White Rabbit
by TheCrazyGhostLady
Summary: Reincarnation isn't so bad, especially when you got a symbiote to hold your hand.
1. Chapter 1

**My first 'Spider-Man' fic. Faves and Reviews are welcome :). **

**A little darker than my other stories, considering it covers the not-so pleasant details of reincarnation, whereas the others are 'wham, bam, portal, deal with it' situations. Hope I did an okay job on this one. Enjoy!**

**Heads up: This story takes place in a unique (AU?) universe, as I simply do not own enough (or hardly any) comics to go off of any continuity.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel. This includes characters, content, plots, et cetera. I only own my OC's**

* * *

**Prologue: **

_It happened so fast._

_One moment I was at a red light, waiting for passing cars to move on before I could seize an opening and take a right._

_The next? _

_I got rear-ended by a drunk driver, or perhaps some inconsiderate jerk on their phone. Either way, they were much too distracted to see me. _

_Mind you, I had my seatbelt on, and my airbags worked wonders in what they were meant to do, so, I would end up fine right?_

_Wrong. You see, Physics decided to play its hand at the cruel game that is life, the vehicle behind me going at just that __**right**__ speed with just that __**right**__ weight to send my car into the intersection. Not that far into it I suppose, but with my pain addled mind, I was too disoriented to stop in time to avoid the still coming traffic. My life literally flashed before my eyes as a Mac semi-truck's headlights landed on me, the trucker frantically honking his horn. I mentally applauded the effort of the warning, but it was far too late as the much larger vehicle slammed into my significantly smaller one. The entire driver's side caved in on me._

_In but a brief lapse of time, I went from being in indescribable agony to being in the absolute bliss of nothingness. _

* * *

_I remained suspended in a seemingly eternal darkness before it suddenly decided to -how do I put this- shrink. Of course my senses refused to work for my being in the void, so imagine my bemusement and panic once they started to function again. My sense of touch detected the heat of my body as it curled in on itself, the once vast and cold void around it becoming as cramped and as hot as a sauna. My sense of hearing picked up on my own heartbeat, and the ever so faint yelling of a woman in pain. My sense of smell inhaling near-suffocating scents (and I mean they were positively ghastly!), and in conjunction with that, my sense of taste was no better off!_

_And last but not least, my sight, which was the same as it was before the abyss started to cave in, only difference was that I could physically feel my eye lids try to open. Despite all my willpower, the buggers refused to lift. _

_My heartbeat intensified as the woman's screaming got louder. At this point, the abyss was _caressing _me as I found myself sliding right along. I squirmed uncomfortably as I noted just how wet the 'walls' around me were. My surroundings tapered around my head, a very frightening experience on par with the deadly crash that I still remembered in detail. _

_So what did I do?_

_I started to cry, like a baby. At first it seemed muffled, but then, as the walls of the abyss gave me one last push, I found that my volume had increased exponentially. Not because of the fresh load of oxygen, but because of the bright lights shining ever so gloriously into my sensitive eyes._

_So, being an even bigger baby, I started to squirm, arms and legs thrashing about. That thrashing coming to an immediate end as someone cuddled me close to them. I went positively limp at the feeling of being cradled. That and I got fatigued rather quickly, so it was nice to succumb to the embrace, my throat was also becoming fairly sore as well._

_A man's voice spoke then, in soft and reassuring tones. I calmed down, despite not understanding a lick of English from what just came out of his blurry, featureless face…if that was what he was speaking. With a garbled yelp, I squinted even more, trying to actually see what -who- was in the room with me. I could only make out dull splotches, varying from whites to dark grey. Some moved, others stayed inanimately still, so I pivoted my head slightly to the left to the only blur that actually had some color AND made noise. That noise being a woman crying in…relief? That relief only lasted a moment before she started to yell and point. _

_Wait, she was pointing at me. _

_Crap. _

_I started to squirm again, my anxiety tripling as I noted that my heart was pounding and I was having difficulty breathing. There were more yells from all around me, but mainly coming from the man whom I was secured within the arms of. A few moments passed before a terse shout and hurried stomping announced the arrival of another figure as he moved up beside the man holding me, my weight suddenly shifting to the security of a single arm as the doctor(?) grabbed something small and slim from his buddy. All I heard was a hiss, the distinct hiss of a container opening, before I felt something cold slither onto my arm, then work its way around my body in an almost serpentine manner. _

_I went from being contently limp to being rigid with pure mortification as the cold liquid(?) seeped into my skin. And ironically enough, it didn't kill me, quite the opposite to be precise. _

_I could breathe properly again, and my tiredness vanished, replaced with a renewed vigor. So, I started to thrash again, but not as violently as before. _

_Relieved, melodramatic sighs echoed from all directions, and I braced myself as I was carried over to the woman, who was, from my perspective, almost as big as whoever was carrying me. _

_As I was deposited gently into a soft embrace, my mind was reeling…_

_**Where am I?**_

_**Am I in a hospital?**_

_**Why is everyone so big?!**_

_The woman began to hum a beautifully soothing tone, which did some good to assuage my rising panic…_

_**Everything's so blurry**_

_**All noises are muffled**_

_**I can't speak…**_

_**And…is that a voice in my head…?**_

_I tensed as my predicament became oh-so much clearer, my head being softly laid just below the woman's collarbone. A heartbeat thudded rhythmically below my head, below the lady's skin, below her rib cage which didn't seem so big anymore. _

_**Oh…oh, God…am I really…?**_

_I whimpered at the bizarre notion, as a soft orchestra of chuckles and coos echoed all around me._

…_**I'm…I'm a baby…**_

* * *

_The beginnings of my new life were a blur really, even when my sight developed and I could finally properly interact with things and people, it still all went by rather quickly –and fleetingly._

_Every diaper change…_

_Every stumble, every fall…_

_Every praise for speaking so comprehensibly…_

_It was all either a faint, or non-existent, memory. Faces would come and go, but very few stayed close by. Those faces close to my orbit being my 'mother', and her very few friends (or perhaps simply colleagues), whom would observe me and nothing else._

_No tug of the cheeks, no coos, no contact whatsoever. Only those intense, inquisitive gazes and glances that I found very disconcerting, even as an adult in a toddler's body. _

_Oh yeah, and the voice I heard when I was first born only got stronger. But, I'm not implying that it was a bad thing, oh no, I (believably) relished the company. I certainly found it (or should I say him) more comforting than the egg-heads. _

_At around four to five years of age, that's where my life slowed down enough for me to actually retain my memories and enjoy the experiences of my (second) childhood. Even if the presence of my 'mother' and her 'pals' flitting about the household bothered me, I fortunately had the mind -and mobility- to retreat to my room, where I could then take the time to learn as much about the new reality as I possibly could…and, of course, talk to my buddy (whom I named Ghost because of his quiet and shy personality). This mainly included news articles that I read on my computer (yes, mother dearest seriously trusted her five year old with a moderately expensive piece of equipment) and videos uploaded on the internet. Through my meticulous research I learned a great deal many things. All of which made my head spin, especially since we lived so close to the proverbial beehive. I remember quite clearly how far my jaw dropped that one day (where I had yet ANOTHER epiphany), and how fast my hand flew to one of the conveniently located notebooks I had on my desk. _

_Breaking my notes into sections, such as 'People' and 'Places' et cetera, I then madly jotted down terms related to what I overheard my mother and her co-workers discussing on a near daily basis –one cannot help but eavesdrop in a house of a hush-hush scientist, i.e. my 'new' parent. _

_And no matter how many notes I took, I was still having a difficult time grasping the new reality I was born into. It wasn't like I researched movies and comics, oh no, the stories and biographies I read online were as real as the computer I was typing vigorously on, and the hushed voices of my mother and her associates downstairs…_

_As real as the hastened footsteps of someone climbing up the stairs, moving gingerly toward my room, making me log off my computer and gulp in trepidation (and earn a growl from Ghost). _

_Ah yes, THAT memory really stuck with me, the anxiety of seeing this tall, intimidating-as-hell man with an eye patch suddenly throwing open my bedroom door -but not miraculously slamming it- and shooting me an indecipherable look, and, my awkward attempt of closing my notebook to conceal its contents from him NOT escaping his attention._

_With a blank, un-amused stare, Nicholas (freaking) Fury gestured for me to follow him, in a get-your-ass-in-gear sort of way._

_I complied, not batting an eyelash._

* * *

_Five or so years after that little introduction, and I still found myself in a regular school for regular children, why the specifics, you ask? Simple: because I was not a regular child and I shouldn't have been in a normal school as I had learned from my time at one of SHIELD's facilities._

_That's right._

_I was a mutant. Oh, wait; scratch that, NOT a mutant. But despite knowing (both myself and SHIELD) what I was –or what 'we' were, SHIELD still labeled us as a mutant in their files. Why? I wish I knew. Or, ahem, _we _knew. _

_So, despite being around SHIELD agents and having to endure their many trials, testing the limitations of my -our- 'abilities', collaborating with scientists (including mommy) and whatnot, they would send me back to my school (a relatively quaint little elementary school in Brooklyn) for my education during the odd hours of the day. Because, I suppose, sending me to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters was out of the question (imagine my disappointment). I assumed it was because they wanted a tight leash on me, as I was _their_ miracle and technically not a mutant, a kind way (not) of saying we were _their_ experiment. I know, how cliché, but that's what I had to expect from a comic book universe._

_And speaking of comics, the universe I was born into was the Marvel universe. I wasn't too sure if it was the cinematic universe, and I wasn't too knowledgeable on comic continuities (I owned very little comics in my previous life, and they revolved around Deadpool and Venom) to have guessed WHICH one of the comic Marvel universes I was in. __It wasn't really something I tried to dwell on, especially when I had to focus on school and the bullshit SHIELD scientists subjected me to (Ghost was definitely my anchor in those times). _

_Moving right along, you're probably wondering just what I have for powers, or rather what my symbiote is capable of._

_To put into perspective, Ghost was the 996__th__ Klyntar of his line. Whether that line was around for as long as Venom's or not…I wasn't sure. What I was sure of though, was that we were pretty strong, and that we were NOT related to Venom. So, being of a unique line, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my Klyntar buddy could muffle his own footsteps at will, and had an unusually high aptitude when it came down to stealth and evasion tactics. He also kindly shared that we could NOT be sensed by other Klyntars and could achieve intangibility. Oh yeah, and because of his predecessor, he inherited 'wings'. Wherever this Wraith guy was, we (or I) made it our life's mission to track him down and hug him._

_Growing up, SHIELD also felt obligated to give me -us- a healthy dose of phenylethylamine when needed, along with taking care of our food expenses, so yay for high metabolisms._

_You're probably also wondering how some girl and her Klyntar had managed school life without causing mischief. _

_That's just the thing. We couldn't, and therefore, I shall present to you a fair example:_

_I was on my way to school, after I had a routine check-up done on me by one of the SHIELD doctors, sucking on a lollipop (that we deserved, thank you very much) as I walked, not skipped, to the bus stop. It was a beautiful summer day, yet to have been blemished by any misfortune and any bad feelings, which was funny considering I would always be in a somewhat foul mood after having an assessment (especially Ghost, poor guy). One of my many Mondays never seemed so perfect in a surreal sense._

_But then I heard snickering and whispers come from the group of boys trailing me. _

_**Bullies, one of the most persistent forces in the universe –or should I say, universes**_

_Having little tolerance for the little snickering hobgoblins, but having enough to play their game, I grinned like the Cheshire cat and veered off into an alley, leading them away from the bus stop. Thankfully, I liked to get there early, so I had plenty of time to pull off what I wanted to without the consequence of missing the bus. No, it did not involve eating them…we were not savages._

"_Hey Freak, wait up!"_

_It's not like they knew I had a symbiote, but alas, due to my pale complexion and solitary, reserved demeanor (no thanks to Ghost rubbing off on me), a good portion of the kids at my school had viewed me as a target. And boy, were they merciless little bastards. Most of them, such as the group behind me, I only had to deal with once I got to school, since I was often the only kid at the bus stop. But that day, I guess the mothers of the little Satan-spawn didn't want to drive them. I could understand why. _

_So, seeing that the adolescent boys, whom were much bigger than me, had indeed followed, I continued on my merry way. "Hey Pasty, we just wanna talk!"._

**Should we make them piss their pants now…?**

_**Nah, I have something better in mind**_

_I rolled my eyes, and looked over my shoulder, my pace never slowing. "About how you and your boyfriends are such obnoxious turd-blossoms? Or are we going to have a productive chat like civil human beings?" I glanced in front of me to avoid bumping into a trashcan, then moved my gaze back onto the group of 'turd-blossoms'. All of which scowled at me and picked up their pace. Smirking, I decided to poke the proverbial bear some more._

"_Say, don't your mothers usually drive you to school?" I sucked away the last bit of the high-fructose ball before I haphazardly threw the stick behind me, doubling my stride as I heard one of the boys squawk in disgust "Did they stop once they realized they could just have Animal Control give you guys a lift?"._

"_You little shit!"_

_And thus, the chase began. _

_Pounding my feet into the ground, I ran a good couple of blocks away from the bus stop in total, not at all winded from the distance. Whoopee for symbiote stamina. _

_Seeing that we lost the boys, I backtracked to where I last saw them. Waving once they came into view._

_At once, the chase continued, only we were sure to slow our pace on purpose. After another street or so passed, we waited till there was a mere thirty feet separating us from the boys, then ducked back into another alley. With a deep inhale and exhale, and a squat, we jumped onto a fire escape, and ultimately onto a roof. With time of the essence, I only stuck around long enough to hear the shocked gasps and outraged yells ("Where did she go?!" hehe, never gets old) and then ran/bounded from rooftop to rooftop, doubling back to where the bus stop was._

_Whilst careful (or tried to be anyway) not to be spotted, we landed on the building closest to where the monkey cage on wheels would roll up, and clambered down along the side of it, ever so gracefully landing/running toward our objective. I reached the bus just as the last kid got on, my breath coming out in short, excited breaths. _

**Hmm, certainly a peaceful way to deal with the pests, was this to lower our chances of getting caught?**

_**Sure thing buddy, last thing I want is Patchy to scold us**_

_As I sat down, the bus driver (whom had no tolerance for kids who arrived late) pulled the lever that closed the bus door with deliberate slowness as the three bullies that had pursued me finally ran around the corner. Their distraught faces morphing into contempt as they eyed me, and being the 'mature' one, I lovingly responded by flipping the bird. _

_You're probably wondering, despite our attempts of being a roof-jumping ninja, 'that's an awfully good way to get caught', and I, being the one to admit my faults, would happily agree with you. In fact, days after that happened; I got reprimanded by Nick Fury for being so careless. The agency had to have their technical staff work their magic to have a few posted videos torn down, and/or edited to look like a hoax. After that, I got lectured by my mom, and then sent to my room with the parting words of "You're grounded". The day after that, I was assigned a personal chauffeur to drive me to school…and issued a tracker bracelet to monitor my whereabouts. _

_It was like that for _two_ years before they trusted me enough to remove the tracker _and_ take the bus again. _

_Did I learn my lesson? The answer would be a big, fat, NOPE. Then again, what would you expect from a Marvel fan-girl given a second chance at life with a symbiote along for the ride? _

* * *

_I was fifteen when I decided to don the masked vigilante persona, such an opportunity seized once SHIELD decided I was old enough for them to relinquish their grip on me, requesting that I send personal reports to them on a weekly basis instead of having me visit the compound. They (specifically Fury) said, and I quote, "_You're both on your own now, but that is no excuse to be careless. Exercise your newfound liberties, but be discreet_" and then proceeded to tell me that we held much promise and all that jazz. I'm also sure he mentioned the Avengers too, but we were too busy day-dreaming of chocolate._

_And thus, we exercised our freedom in the most 'discreet' way we could. Sure, I was still studying and being an engaging student (I was not a Valedictorian in my past life, but I sure as shit wasn't mediocre), getting good grades in all my high-school classes (mainly Art), but only because I didn't join any groups or any extracurricular activities that put a strain on my schedule. Nope, just one after-school activity could be crammed in, and that was when I was extremely careful. With Ghost morphing into a symbiotic suit with a hood, we would go out and patrol Brooklyn (at night) and stop any malicious activity our acute hearing and/or the police scanner app could pick up, or…if were really lucky…we would bump into Spider-Man and accompany him wherever he went, although he was skeptical at first about us being a symbiotic pair (he'd apparently already went through the 'black suit' phase), we eventually got to go about stopping drug deals, human trafficking, and so on. _

_I was probably pushing things, but the self-defense lessons I had with Agent Coulson did pay off, and Ghost could of course heal me, so I refrained from panicking whenever we got shot or stabbed by petty thugs. I also did my absolute best to limit my interactions with well-known villains/supervillains, as I did not wish to be hunted down or have my 'mother' (as unpleasant as she may have been at times) targeted…or perhaps be traced back to SHIELD where I would then suffer a fate worse than sweet Death at the hands of a livid Nick Fury. _

_Yep, I believe the saying would go '_don't bite off more than you can chew_', so me and my symbiote buddy were perfectly content nibbling away at New York's regularly occurring crime._

* * *

_Even after four years, I didn't have many run-ins with Spidey. And any run-ins I did have were just mainly waves and figurative pats on the back to show the mutual respect we had for one another and what we did, and a surplus of quips and jokes as we pummeled the piss out of any thugs unlucky enough to encounter the _both _(or should I say 'three')_ _of us in the same place and time. _

_That was just how we liked it though. The guy had his personal life (along with the pursuit and capture of villains/super villains) to attend to, and I had mine, neither of us bothering to disclose our real identities…so, sadly enough, we didn't hang out after our little patrols. Besides, college took precedence over strengthening bonds with supers, particularly since I didn't go through college in my previous life before 'the incident' happened. So, not wishing to waste any precious time and make the most of my new life, I made the most of every class, specifically all the art-related classes I had in my junior year. And because of my determination, I seemed to finish college a little too soon, thus introducing the stress of picking out a home afterward. _

_Even with the two of us thinking in unison, it took a little while to find a place we agreed upon. It wasn't much, but we couldn't complain, our place was a beautifully humble little studio apartment with electricity and running water, and all for a modest rent being that it was as safe as all the other apartments in Manhattan could possibly be. That meaning I had to buy a dead-bolt and a few other locking mechanisms, but beggars can't be choosers can they? And since it was a reasonable distance from a few different crime hot-spots, I wouldn't argue…not when we had a reputation to uphold._

* * *

**And there you have it, the prologue is DONE. A little longer than I intended, but I wished to get the back-story out of the way before we got to the good stuff :). **

**And it's not like all the SI!OC's amusing childhood experiences have been shared...those can come later. **


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Marvel. As in at all. I only own my OC's**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Whitey and Spidey**

"Hey hon! Look at this one!"

I straightened my posture once I heard the eager clicking of a woman's heels and the duller (less enthusiastic) footfalls of her husband heading in my direction. Acknowledging the two, I turned and smiled, stepping a good foot away from the framed digital print that hung beside me so they could view it better.

"Oh! Those kittens are so precious, aren't they Howie?" the woman, the epitome of a southern bell, turned to Howie with an ecstatic grin. He smiles _just long_ enough for her to be satisfied before she then turns back to the framed cuteness, which in that instance his face drops back down into a bored expression. Never let it be said that opposites don't attract folks.

"Claire…Somers…?" she leans and squints to make out the signature on the bottom right corner.

_And just when I was beginning to worry it wasn't legible; _I inwardly smirked and leaned forward too, being mindful of the woman's personal space. "She must be new in town"

_**You're not going to take credit? You slaved over that piece**_

That would have been the ideal time to introduce myself, to be recognized for my work, but I settled on not doing so. I only came to the art gallery to; of course, view the work of other artists (or aspiring artists) and to re-evaluate my own displays…for the fourth time that day. Call it a nervous habit, but despite being an art school graduate, I still was mainly self-taught, and what better way to improve than to build up from ones' faults?

_Sorry Big Man, feelin' a little shy today…_

_**I didn't peg you as a wuss**_

_Aren't you supposed to be the quiet type? _I bit back a snort as the woman beside me continued to scrutinize the kittens. "If she is, she's gonna go far" the woman hummed, spun on her heel, and with a few more glances, grabbed her husband and left, the man looking ten different kinds of relieved at that particular moment.

With a sigh, I left for my seventh (or was it my eighth?) round around the art gallery, stopping a couple of times to gaze upon my other prints while Ghost assured me (in a snarky tone) that they hadn't changed the last twenty times I looked.

* * *

As the gallery's closing hour rolled around, and I needed to sit down to ease my aching feet, just about everyone had left. The remainder of us included myself, a group of teenagers, and a woman with natural platinum-blonde hair, and we were all quite content lounging around –the teenagers being surprisingly well behaved, but I didn't expect any different when they were dressed all preppy like. What I didn't expect, was when the ashen-haired girl (who was _not_ an albino) sat next to me and initiated conversation. _Conversation_ folks; was not my -or Ghost's- forte.

"Claire Somers?" aquamarine eyes bored into my soul. Not in a bad way, but _holy shit_ –this is the part where you all guess I'm woman-crushing and I can't deny it. Oh, and having a male symbiote that wouldn't stop _purring_ did not help in the slightest.

"That's quite the bold deduction you made there" I checked my phone, searching through my messages. Surprise! I didn't have any. _The sad, _sad_ reminder I need friends…_

_**You have me…**_

_Correction; the sad, _sad_ reminder I need _more_ friends_

"I saw you pacing the whole gallery…but you'd eventually hover back to one of Somers' prints, as if you were examining _your_ work" she smirked slyly, like a _cat_. _I feel like I should know who this is..._

_**Perhaps an old classmate of ours? Childhood friend? **_There was a thoughtful hum, _**but if she were, we'd certainly remember that hair…**_

Oh boy, Ghosty Boy had a thing for ashen-haired beauties. Ignoring his incessant purring, I mulled over what the snow-haired woman said, and took a little more time to give an appropriate response in a socially acceptable manner.

"Oh, you got me there". Thankfully, the teenagers had left the premises, leaving just me and the black clad bad-ass; conversations were easier if one did not have eavesdroppers. "I do commissions for this art gallery, and when it's busy, I like to come in and see just how popular my art is…if it is so" it was getting unbearably close to closing time, and as much as I wanted to flee -and start our nightly occupation- I couldn't, not without being rude about it.

She smiled, a more pleasant expression than her smirk "Don't worry, your work is beautiful, all the reason why I seized the opportunity to compliment you in person". She stood, stretching, slowly walking toward the exit, "Have a good night sweetie! And keep up the good work!". That was around the time that a guard approached my bench, and not wanting to suffer the indignity of getting shooed away, we gladly left in a hurry.

* * *

Despite having a symbiote, I still insisted on taking a taxi home. Even if I could have had him morph into our second skin and take off into the night, we didn't wish to attract any Capes, hero or villain, not until we went through our nightly routine, which included a greatly needed shower. Besides, it was late at night, so the traffic wasn't as cluttered as it was in the daytime. With that, I kept quiet as the taxi driver drove me to my destination, the both of us having a decent chat regarding the scum that would stalk the streets and what defensive techniques we could use on them. Yay for chatty, super-lax taxi drivers to talk you into a stupor to make the time fly by!

Handing the good man a tip, I opened the door to exit the vehicle, whilst trying so hard not to fall on my face.

"Hey Miss?"

"Hmmm…?"

"Your bag?"

Did I mention stupor? "Oh right, thank you!"

"No problem sweetie"

_**Space Cadet**_

_You could have grabbed it, so shush!_

With a wave and a chuckle, we bid each other goodnight. My fidgety hands looking through my backpack to make sure I didn't forget anything back at the museum. Which by some feat of luck, everything was right where it needed it to be. With a roll of the eyes, and a relieved sigh, I carried on my merry way to our apartment.

Our nightly routine was a swift one; get in, throw all my shit into that one corner of my room, shower (Ghost has long since gotten accustomed to the heat of a hot shower), get on some fresh panties and sports bra, have Ghost morph into a symbiote suit while stuffing as many snacks as we could into him, and last, but not least, phase out through the window.

Careful not to be spotted, we used our elongated amorphous 'wing-claws' to grapple onto the top of the building, and in one fluid movement, launched ourselves into the air.

Feeling that familiar sense of freedom, we dug our feet into the roof of the neighboring apartment complex. Doing so, it didn't take long before our sprints became more like bounds. Whooping like maniacs, we crossed a multitude of rooftops, our lungs not at all burning nor our muscles aching. Oh no, our patrols were never hindered from such things. Our only drawback was that we got hungry, but that was only near the end of our shift. At the moment, we had no worries as we leaped across the skyline of Manhattan. You're probably wondering, 'why don't you fly?', and let me assure you, sprinting/bounding across the skyline of New York City was significantly more fun, and we drew less attention. Flying was an art we reserved for when we vacationed out of the major metropolitan city, such as in a forest or high above the skyscrapers, a way to blow off some steam in a way that didn't involve crime-fighting. It was a sort of therapy that tuned out the sounds and stresses of reality. Something we could _not_ do when we were on patrol, we needed to go at a slower pace so our acute hearing could single out trouble from the ground, and (er) we could not do that with our head in the clouds.

Getting back on topic, it didn't take long before we detected a mugging-in-progress, the both of us shivering with anticipation as we closed in.

_Ready?_

_**To get shot at? Sure**_, Ghost was, by nature, a quiet symbiote, an aspect of his personality that made what we did easier. But by Thor's tights, whenever he did speak he delighted in being a smart-ass. Not that I minded, he thought the same of me too. It's why we worked so well together, that, and he's been with me since birth.

Trading in our Olympic gait with a steady jog, while activating the sound absorption in our soles, we got down in a crouch as we neared the edge of the coffee shop we were lovingly sneaking on. Below us, in the alley, three men had an older fellow with dark-tinted glasses at gunpoint. _Typical assholes, _with a huff, we leaped down.

The old man was the first one to see us, since we landed behind the crooks. At first, we wanted to land in front of the man, but years of experience told us to intervene another way, to take the heat away from the innocent. We made eye contact, the old bloke shooting his biggest grin as we did so.

"What are you smilin' 'bout bone-bag?!" one mugger snarled, his aim not faltering. I could feel Ghost's anxiety.

_Don't worry, Mustache Man knows what's up_

"Oh nothin' really…" a bony finger pointed past the three scum, shaking ever so slightly at us "It's just that young men like you should know better than to mug old people in an alley at night, you might get hurt"

'_**Hurt' is an understatement**_

Finally getting the hint, the trio whirled around, guns drawn.

"What the f-" with inhuman reflexes, not one bullet grazed us as we lunged at the men, swiping at their weapons and effectively disarming them (not literally dis_arming_, we weren't brutes). With their guns lying on the floor, the yahoos charged us in an attempt to overwhelm us, which, by far, was an asinine move on their part. But hey, had to admire their effort…not.

With a solid kick to the gut of one guy and a vicious backhand that sent the other two staggering backward -and ultimately landing on their asses- we then advanced on them, straddling each individual as we knocked their lights out, humming a lovely little tune as we did so. Once done, we turned to check on the old man, who still had that contagious smile. _**"Are you alright?" **_we could clearly see he was a little roughed up, but was otherwise fine. It was just the courteous thing to do to ask.

"Oh, I'll live. Besides, I don't want to hold you up for too long; there may be someone else that'll need your help"

With a nod, we procured a cell-phone from one of our 'pockets' in an effort to call the police, only pausing once we heard the old fellow clear his throat. His smile remained plastered on his face as he held up his flip-phone, a distant ringing echoing out.

"_**Is there anything else we can do for you?"**_

"You can get back to saving people"

With a chortle, we waved goodbye, then scaled the wall with ease as police sirens wailed in the distance.

_**That's odd; he wasn't at all intimidated by us…**_

_Because we're one of the good symbiotes, _I chuckled and mentally poked him, which was returned with a thoughtful hum.

_**Can innocents really tell the difference?**_

My mirth died down slightly as I recollected all the times that people gazed at us in fear and apprehension. All the obscenities and other unpleasant things we were called before and _after_ we helped people. I sighed, _you got me there…I was actually surprised by his gratitude…it was…_

_**Genuine **_

_Indeed, it was_

* * *

Much later, we decided to take a snack break on top of a chapel, pondering over how that old man was so _calm_ in our presence, our legs dangling off a gargoyle as we stuffed ourselves with a variety of snacks, a good chunk of the morsels containing chocolate.

_**Claire?**_

_Hmmmm…?_

_**Do you think this view is pretty?**_

It was not an odd question. _It's very beautiful up here, it would make for a beautiful piece, _one of the greatest things about having a symbiote, aside from the freedom and companionship, was the reach. My alien buddy could take us anywhere in the city in mere moments, and it especially helped when he had an artistic knack when it came to finding inspirational spots, a good chunk of our artwork based solely on where we've been.

_**It would…perhaps next time we go to the gallery you should make yourself known**_

_You know the museum knows fairly well who I am right? My name is out there…_

_**But do they know **__your __**face?**_

I bit my lip as I remembered that I denied having my picture taken and posted on the museum's official site, a place where people could see the artist as well as their work.

_I suppose…_

_**Don't suppose…**__promise_

I wriggled my nose, _fine, fine, not like I can say no to that face_. On cue, something warm snaked around my body before stopping directly in front of my face. White eyes and a toothy grin greeted me. **"This one? Awwww, you flatter me!"**

I chuckled, reaching out to grasp the two sides of his head. "Don't flatter yourself; it's a face only _I _can love" pulling him gently toward me, I then placed a smooch on his forehead, complete with a dramatic "_Mooo_ah!". The loving gesture earning a squawk as Ghost coiled back into my body, though the thing is; the loving gesture was not what made him retreat.

_Awww, are you embarrassed?!_

_**No, listen**_, he said in his _serious_ tone, a sure sign that I had to do exactly what I was told.

My ears perked as I heard the source of Ghosts' unease. We tensed, for an oh-so brief moment before suddenly relaxing. Why you ask, because we were familiar with the '_thwip, thwip_' of you-know-who.

Entrance as theatrical as ever, Spider-Man landed above/behind us (upside down) on the spire, in all his spider-grace. White lenses narrowed in (what we correctly assumed was) a smile.

"Hey Whitey! Long time, no see!" with a cute little aerial flip, Spidey re-positioned himself so he was crouched in front of us, holding up both his hands in a high-five.

Sighing at the abridged version of our vigilante name, we returned the high-fives. _**"Ey Spidey, the feeling is mutual, you trying to hide from us or something? Afraid we're gonna eat your brain?" **_we teased, earning a wince from Spider-Man, before he shrugged it off and chuckled.

"Awww, and why would I hide from my favorite symbiotic vigilante? Ya know, the one that _doesn't_ eat brains" and in revenge for our teasing, we were given a noogie, which we allowed thank you very much. "You know, I'm not a hard guy to find…" he took on a more serious tone, a hint of sorrow present as he sat cross-legged "got other Capes, heroes and villains alike knocking at my door whenever they want, for whatever they want…yet, you two don't even step on my front lawn", he cocked his head.

_**He's sad…?**_

_Huh, __**"You are…upset?"**_

Spidey crossed his arms and shrugged, his mask shifting ever so slightly to form a playful pout. Sometimes, we forgot how old Spider-Man really was. "Well yeah! We're friends aren't we?"

"_**We haven't even…" **_our toothy jaw dropped once he took off his mask.

I repeat: Took. Off. His. Mask.

"New York City is a dangerous place, even for me sometimes…" Peter Parker smiled "So it's good to have people like you out there-" he gestured to the metropolitan horizon with his head "-to watch my back, watch the backs of civilians, et cetera"

"_**You have the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the…-"**_

"Oh come on! A guy can never have too many friends!" he held out his hand. "Seriously, I can't believe I didn't do this first time we met…Peter, Peter Benjamin Parker".

We stared at his hand dumbly, then, ever so cautiously, we shook it. _Oh my, he used his full name…_

_**About damn time he trusts us enough to introduce himself!**_

_Yeah, no kid –whoa! _My jaw dropped as I felt the symbiote recede from my face, exposing my features to the young hero in front of us.

_**It's only fair we do the same**_

I sent a silent agreement through our bond. Ghosty-Boy couldn't be more right.

"Claire Lucille Somers" we shook for another second before Peter's eyes went wide with recognition.

"As in the artist?!". To be quite frank, I was not expecting that.

"Er, yes, you know of me?"

"I'm not an uncultured swine…" his face turned a little pink "…I like art too…", as his volume lowered to just above a whisper, "especially when it's as nice as yours".

"You talking about the ones with a skyscraper view of the city?"

"Mainly those, yeah…" he scratched the back of his head, "and, well, all the others are good too"

"Aw, thanks"

We spent a few minutes gazing down at the busy streets below, feeling very much like gargoyles ourselves. Ghost had concealed my face beforehand with the paranoia that someone on the streets would look up, Parker doing the same with his mask because he was just as paranoid. Then again, it wasn't so much paranoia as it was common sense; people did look up, and would almost immediately get excited or frightened upon seeing us sitting together. It was funny really, seeing their amazed/hopeful expressions, which were meant for Spidey, quickly melt into worry or confusion once they saw us. We weren't bothered; we could understand their fear of symbiotes, even if there were only two of us. One of which was a good guy, BUT since the other made quite the negative impression, symbiote kind was unfairly judged. Speaking of which, that should give you an idea of where I was in whatever Marvel timeline I was born into. Even if it was unique, the names and reputations hadn't changed. Perhaps some tweaks, but I couldn't be too certain. Though whatever events may have transpired, and when, Venom was still viewed as a nuisance, inadvertently dragging us with him.

"You okay?" Spider-Man noticed our perturbed expression.

"_**No matter what we do, and will do, for these people, we'll always be viewed as a monster" **_we frowned upon seeing a mother gasp at us, scoop up her child, and then speed-walk away.

"How long have you been a vigilante?"

"_**Eight years"**_

White lenses widened as Spider-Man whistled, "Yikes, and _no one_ thanked you guys?".

We hummed thoughtfully, _**"Actually, very recently, we saved an old man from being mugged. He was…surprisingly calm **__and __**grateful"**_

"Did he have dark-tinted glasses and a flawless mustache?"

"_**Yes…?"**_

Spider-Man chuckled whilst mumbling something under his breath, standing up and holding his hand out to us. And for old times' sake, we happily grasped it. "Come along Whitey, we got a city to patrol"

* * *

"So your symbiotes' name is Ghost?"

"Oh my god!" I balled my fists and held them to the sky, praising the heavens "He pays attention!".

**SMACK**

"Owie!" I went to rub my sore head, but Ghost beat me to it, massaging ever so gently and with a growl.

"I can listen and watch the streets below, it's called; _multi-tasking_"

"Didn't need to smack me" I mumbled childishly as I pat Ghost's head, the symbiote acting like an emotional support animal.

"Oh, yes I did. Where was I? Oh! So if Ghost is his name, why don't guys call yourselves Ghost? Or perhaps Ghost Rabbit?"

Ghost formed back over my face as a strong gust of wind assaulted us. _**"'White Rabbit' holds a sentimental and symbolic value to us; we would rather not change it"**_

"Oh…okay"

We down-cast our head sheepishly, _**"We've…also grown to like the nickname you gave us"**_

Spider-Man snickered; he definitely heard our hesitation. "Me too _Whitey_…me too" we grumbled incoherently as he delivered a good, hard, pat on the back, almost sending us over the ledge we were perched on. Gasping, we quickly righted ourselves in order to not be spotted. We were currently scouting some suspicious activity near a night-club, the matte grey van idling lazily below us as three men hung around it either chatting contently or smoking. Sure it seemed that they were minding their own business and not up to anything malicious, but when I say, 'chatting contently' I mean they may have dropped some revealing info that had made us suspicious to begin with.

"…he's really taking his sweet time"

"Ah come on man, this is _New York_, course he ain't here yet"

"Bastard can at least call, seriously, we look like a bunch of jackasses just standin' here"

The man leaning on the back doors of the van took a drag as he gave an exasperated sigh. "He'll get here when he gets here, now you…" he pointed with his cigarette to the scrawny man that was indubitably the most anxious of the trio "stop being so damn antsy, if we get caught, it'll be because of you acting so guilty, so _relax_"

"B-but this is quality stuff we're sellin' here, a-and i-it's in bulk, if we get caught we're _screwed_"

"We won't get caught, ever heard of the phrase '_just act natural_'?"

The guy with a medium build, the one that was defending the running-late buyer, sneered "Hard to do that when you're snortin' the goods while no one's lookin'"

Like a feral Chihuahua, the scrawny man lunged at the bulkier male with every intention of ripping something off, but was easily subdued by the smoker.

In conjunction with the growing unease below us, we were also a little on edge (literally), Spider-Man too. Yet, we still had to wait for obvious reasons. At drug deals, it was best to bag the dealers, guns, and the buyer(s) all at once. If, or when, the buyer(s) turned out to be someone who needed help, it was best to do so after they saw the dealers and their hired guns be shoved into the backseat of a police cruiser.

_**Something about this does not sit right**_

_How so? _We continued to watch the smallest male of the trio struggle against the hold of the very irate older man.

_**It's…it's an odd, foreboding sense…**_

_Should I tell Spidey? _Usually if either of us had such a feeling, we would find some way to work around it, and if we were in the company of a friend, it was best to tell them as soon as possible.

_**Please do**_

Nodding, I placed a hand on Spider-Man's shoulder, _**"Spider-Man"**_. The arachnid hero cocked his head as if to listen closely. _**"My Other tells me something is wrong"**_

"Such as…?"

"_**This whole deal, something is off"**_

"Seems like a regular deal to me –ey!" he tensed, we followed his intense gaze to see that the men were packing up, yet, they appeared to not have spotted us. "Guess they thought the same thing; wonder if the scrawny dude got under their skin…" Spider-Man shrugged, and then stood, beckoning us to follow as he ran alongside the building, then executed a flawless double front flip whilst web-shooting the windshield of the van. The vehicle effectively stopped just as the grill was about to meet a smug Spidey.

_**Is it me, or do his maneuvers become riskier every time we're around? It's almost as if-**_

I groaned loudly as we landed on the roof of the van, trying our absolute best not to get shot as bullets pierced through with the clear goal of trying to hit us. _Hey now, we got enough on our plate as is, stay focused! _I heard a snicker at the back of my mind as I felt my blood rush to my face. Flustered, we swiftly performed a deft flip over and onto the driver's side door; just as the driver (the smoker) was getting out, knocking the gruff-looking man back into the driver's seat.

"_**Oh sorry 'bout that, let us **__help you__**" **_grinning, we grabbed the man by the scruff of his neck, using our wings to shield us, and him, from incoming bullets. _Some friends this guy has! _Jumping away from the lead onslaught, we then threw the man on the ground, and proceeded to punch out his lights. With him taken care of, we went to deal with the other two passengers, only to see that Spidey had already webbed them up all snug like.

"Wow, you got one and I got two, you slacking on me Whitey?"

"_**Ah shaddup" **_we deadpanned, grabbing the driver and depositing him near Spider-Man. With a chuckle, the smart-mouthed spider-punk cocooned the crook in webbing. Afterward, we neatly piled him with his buddies.

"So, uh, your Other still getting bad feelings?"

Through internal consultation, I found that Ghost was still very much on edge. And not just him, I could sense something was wrong too.

_**This feeling is so familiar, yet, **__unfamiliar_

We hummed, _**"Something still is not right, we've been feeling a…" **_we shivered _**"a presence, get stronger and stronger through the entirety of us being here…"**_

Spider-Man, being the facetious joker he was, just laughed, "What's the matter? Is Ghost seeing ghosts?". Clearly, he had difficulty seeing just how seriously we took our 'vibes', so with a growl we spun around with every intention to show him how scary we could _really_ be. But, we stopped.

A tall, very dark, and very muscular figure was scaling the wall behind Spider-Man with the grace of a feline, but the silence of a spider. White eyes and an equally white toothy grin boring into our very soul(s) as the much bigger symbiote closed in on us. Green ooze dripping from his tongue as it lashed through the air.

"**You wish we were a ghost, Parker"**

As soon as Spider-Man spun to face his arch-nemesis, Venom pounced.

* * *

**So how did I do? Eeeenjoooying the story? Next chapter will be up...whenever XD. Stay tuned for the smack-down!**

**Also, I'm sure you all can guess who the 'ashen-haired lady' and the 'old man' are. Felt like being more subtle with adding them in than Spider-Man and Venom.**

**Just a quick pointer, this may be an SI!OC story, but, I didn't use my name. As I am sure being born in another universe would call for a name change. **


	3. Chapter 3

**I do NOT own Marvel or any of its related material. I only own my OC's.**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Two Symbiotes and A Spider Walk Into A Bar…**

**Recap**

_**This feeling is so familiar, yet, **__unfamiliar_

_We hummed_, _**"Something still is not right, we've been feeling a…" **we shivered_ _**"a presence, get stronger and stronger through the entirety of us being here…"**_

_Spider-Man, being the facetious joker he was, just laughed, "What's the matter? Is Ghost seeing ghosts?". Clearly, he had difficulty seeing just how seriously we took our 'vibes', so with a growl we spun around with every intention to show him how scary we could really be. But, we stopped._

_A tall, very dark, and very muscular figure was scaling the wall behind Spider-Man with the grace of a feline, but the silence of a spider. White eyes and an equally white toothy grin boring into our very soul(s) as the much bigger symbiote closed in on us. Green ooze dripping from his tongue as it lashed through the air._

"**You wish we were a ghost, Parker"**

_As soon as Spider-Man spun to face his arch-nemesis, Venom pounced._

* * *

In one fluid movement, we had Spider-Man in our arms and dove to the side just as the massive black symbiote barely clipped us. We did not even have time for a breather before Venom whirled around, his bulky form already on us as he lunged again, Spider-Man breaking from our protective hold as we evaded a flurry of slashes.

_Yikes _

_**Yikes indeed!**_

With a grunt, we deployed our 'wing-claws' in an attempt to grapple and restrain Venom as he charged Spider-Man with every intention of pinning (and perhaps disemboweling) him. The razor-sharp tips of the symbiotic claws dug successfully in, as we then proceeded to reel the robust black symbiote toward us. We didn't need to tell Spider-Man of the wonderful opportunity we just gave him, the acrobatic arachnid-hero wasting no time in web-shooting a few clusters of webbing into Venom's eyes. However, as tempted as we were to congratulate each other, we knew better as Venom simply yanked the adhesives that obstructed his sight with an irritated snarl. We (or rather I) didn't even get to muster an '_eep_' before my Other was oh-so kind enough to activate our phasing just in time to not get plowed by the much larger (and scarier) symbiote.

_**Keep focused girl**_

Goosebumps rose on every part of our body as we turned around in time to see that Venom had his back to us, but his head was pivoted at just that perfect angle to see his wholesome collection of teeth. _I have this nagging feeling we're way in over our heads_

_**Spider-Man's got our back, don't wuss out**_

_So…tempted…, _I believe I have mentioned before that avoiding super-villains was a major aspect of our symbiotic vigilante career (up until that night anyway). And to have one such super-villain show up suddenly on what was supposed to be a harmless drug bust…it was an unpleasant surprise, I can tell you. **"It warms our **heart** to see another symbiote, we are so glad to know we're not alone on this planet" **it would have been a heart-warming 'confession', but Venom's sneer revealed it was anything but. **"It's a shame you seem to be allies with the webbed one-" **webbing suddenly whizzed past us, but Venom proved he wasn't as distracted as we initially thought as he back-flipped over it, his tendrils erupting from his back like pressurized jets of water as they made a grab for us and Spidey. We merely phased through, while Spider-Man deftly evaded the assault. Our smart-mouthed arachnid partner just chuckled as he skillfully landed on a neon sign, as if a smack-down with _Venom_ was a laughing matter.

"Wow-" he whistled "congratulations, you just slew your greatest enemy, the _air_ –urk!". Not even we saw the strand of black webbing as it snagged Spider-Man's leg (as we were much too focused on any more potential attacks that may have been directed toward us), the owner of the webbing grinning like a lunatic as he swung our arachnid friend around like a mace before launching him across the street and into a café building.

_**Hmm, maybe you were right…**_

_Not the time Ghost! _We crouched, in sync with Venom as he got in his own little attack stance.

"**Ladies first"**

We grinned. _**"If that's the case, then we're waiting-" **_we didn't bother phase as we tackled Venom's outstretched arms with our wing-claws, the massive appendages gradually increasing in size and strength just to be on par with the symbiote across from us. _**Damn, he's…strong… **_but alas, at some point in our little Indian-wrestling, we quickly realized that we were reaching our limit. And that Venom was standing there aloofly, as if we weren't a challenge at all. So realizing that we weren't going to win with brute strength, we decided for a much more psychological approach.

"_**So…you're Venom huh?" **_we grunted as said symbiote applied some pressure on our half.

"**Last time we checked" **he replied coolly, as if he wasn't just trying to rip us to shreds earlier.

"_**You know, you're giving us symbiotes a bad name, ever consider giving up the super-villain gig?"**_

"**A little bad reputation is the price to pay…" **he smiled wickedly **"to achieve revenge"**

At the mention of revenge, Venom grew in mass, effortlessly making us kneel. _Right, talking doesn't work! _With an '_oomf_' and a shove, we threw out our forearm, tiny white needle-projectiles launching from it and right into their intended mark. Such as Venom's gut, and that (ehehe) only served to piss him off as we needed to dodge the caging movement of his humongous arms, our much smaller body bounding backward much like our vigilante namesake. Venom seemed to think so.

"**That's right, hop away little bunny"**

My Other snarled at the mocking tone of the other 'male' symbiote. Our usual symbiotic 'mask' receding slightly to reveal a row of the signature Klyntar teeth, something we (or more specifically Ghost) did when threatened or angry, whatever the situation we were in called for. And while we typically worked in tandem with one another, Ghost steadily crept into the pilot's seat, ready to tear into Venom at a moment's notice. _**"You will not address us like that again" **_the deep rumbling of Ghost's voice soon seized control of my vocal chords (it was usually my own voice with minor distortion), distorting my own greatly. I felt my own mass increase, along with my body temperature as I felt symbiotic layer upon layer overlap, acting as _even more_ of protective insulation as Ghost claimed full control. I watched through the fleshy transparency that was our eyes as Venom tilted his head with a mock grin. _Bad move on his part, no one calls us that but...- _I immediately dismissed the memory that lovingly accompanied that thought.

"**Oh, and what if we do, **little bunny**" **wickedly-shaped white patches of eyes stared right through ours, and right into mine, Venom no doubt achieving his anticipated reaction as Ghost snarled and hurtled right toward him, the large black symbiote crouching menacingly in preparation.

Although it seemed like a rushed move on our part, Ghost retained enough sensibility to activate our phasing at the last possible moment as Venom's tendrils were but merely a centimeter or so from ripping into our symbiotic skin. We went through him, hopping into the air as soon as we went tangible to avoid a vicious right hook. Still in the air, we released a barrage of razor-sharp symbiote 'feathers' from the amorphous masses forming on our back, most of which sunk into Venom's flesh, but did not puncture all the way. However, when one unleashes enough mini-daggers on one specific area-

"**rrrRRRAAAGGGHH!" **It doesn't matter if the target's flesh is near indestructible, getting punctured in a weak spot -such as an eye- is bound to happen, as Venom had found out the hard way.

"_**Why, we will do that of course" **_

Ghost snickered, clearly pleased with himself and almost making me faint. _If he wasn't going to kill us slowly and painfully before-_

_**I'm defending your honor, so shush-**_

We snapped out of our internal bickering just in time to see a black blur lunge at us. However, we didn't have as long to judge speed and distance, let alone act accordingly, so we were quite shocked to feel a good chunk be ripped from us. And _fortunately_, that's all Venom managed to snag as he was violently pulled back by the legs (and thus eating concrete) by some unseen force. That 'unseen' force not really needing to be seen as we had already figured correctly _whom_ it was.

"Hey Venom, has your mother ever told you it's rude to grab a lady there-?" Spider-Man joked, almost choking as he got a good look at us, surprised by our more masculine appearance. "Uh, Whitey, did you get um…_manlier_?"

"_Ghost __**is in control"**_

"Oh, should I be worried?"

We pointed at a livid Venom, whom was standing dangerously close to the group of men we had subdued earlier. _**"You should be more worried about him"**_

"**I am going to tear out your spine, web-crawler. And then force-feed it to your little concubine!"**

"_**Our point exactly –wait, what did you just call us?!" **_we were now perfectly balanced, my own anger now evenly matched with my Klyntar's, my anger escalating even more as Venom just smirked.

"**We did not stutter, little bunny"**

Before we could show our displeasure with being called such an unsavory thing, Venom cast a sideways glance at the bound criminals lying on the floor next to him.

_Uh…_

_**Oh…**_

"**And speaking of tearing out spines…" **Venom picked up the unconscious louts, **"You three have outlived your usefulness" **a massive clawed hand prepped to tear into one of the men, who, much to our horror, was awake enough to start screaming bloody murder. The noise drawing more attention to where we were more so than the actual fighting earlier, doubling the amount of nosy pedestrians which had also added to the cacophony of screams. It was giving us a freaking _migraine_, and so by default, it seemed to distract Venom well enough to not remove the first man's spine. But damn was it obnoxious and made thinking clearly an arduous task, who knew human beings were capable of such noise –_digressing_, we needed to fight it, and our own desires to tear into Venom for being pig-headed so we could focus on saving the bundle o' scumbags.

We didn't need to communicate our plans with Spider-Man, as he had already sprung into action by web-shooting cluster upon cluster of adhesive at Venom whilst we sent out both our wing claws…one to retrieve, the other to assist Spidey in distraction. The strategy worked out to the degree to which Venom dropped the bound thugs, but not so much to where we and Spidey were left unscathed. To elaborate; Venom blocked a majority of Spidey's web-balls that had the goal of concealing his eyes, and thus, he saw my 'offensive' wing-claw and bound it in tendrils, swinging us around and right into Spidey just as the poor guy was about to move in for a counter-attack. So while the thugs were safe (or, as safe as being thrown into a populated sidewalk could be), we (and Spidey) didn't share that luxury as we were mercilessly thrown into the side of a passing dump-truck. Which after leaving human-sized dents in it, ungracefully slid off, trying our absolute hardest not to get it by any more vehicles in our dazed state.

_uuuUUGHH, why did it have to be a truck? Why not through a pillow-soft glass pane or somethin', _we jumped out of the way of an incoming Mac truck, cursing as we did so. _Oh no, I don't think so motherf-_

**SCREEEECH**

**BEEP BEEP!**

"_**AIIIYYEEE!" **_alas, the roads of Manhattan were an unforgiving place during brawls between heroes/vigilantes and super-villains. The woman behind the wheel of her PT Cruiser giving us a sheep-eyed, open-mouthed expression before very kindly flooring it and sending us tumbling over her car and hitting the pavement.

_**I memorized her license plate, should we sue her later?**_

_No, we really shouldn't bother, _groaning, but otherwise fine, we shot up to dodge more agitated traffic and the assault of black claws, as Venom was all too happy to take advantage of our distracted state. His attempts not at all successful, because while he was stronger (and perhaps faster, if by just a smidgen), Venom had difficulty landing any actual blows while he had our undivided attention. Ironically, he was easier to evade than that car that hit us while we were in our 'zone'. Because we may have froze upon sight of the Mac truck beforehand…boy, was trauma a bitch.

"**Slippery little thing aren't you" **Venom sent a flurry of swiping tendrils in our direction, Ghost relinquishing our 'masculine' build in favor of our original feminine one because the (my) build was better suited to evading.

"_**Quite" **_we replied acidly and jumped, sending what can only be best described as an aerial round-house kick to Venom's jaw, only for such an effort to be squandered as he caught our foot and proceeded to dangle us like some freshly caught salmon. Growling, we ejected a few needle-projectiles from our forearm, but the path to their intended target (his face) was easily predicted as his own massive forearm blocked our attack. His wicked grin morphing into a scowl as something yanked us from his grip, the big black symbiote pouting like a child that had just had his favorite toy taken from him.

"You okay Whitey?"

"_**Physically, yes. However, we may need to see a therapist after this, the emotional trauma from looking at Venom's face will surely need to be treated"**_

Said symbiote scowled.

"…I'll take that as a 'yes'" Spider-Man laughed and his optical lenses narrowed at Venom, whom looked ready to pounce again.

_Hmmm…_

"_**Spider-Man" **_we didn't wait for a reply as we whispered as quietly as we could (just barely audible, even to us) our plan. With a nod, we sprinted ahead, forming two large shield-like masses on our back as we charged Venom while Spider-Man waited in the back for his cue. Venom, thinking perhaps we wanted another go at challenging his strength was all too glad to meet us halfway, chuckling as he did so. That chuckle died as soon as his claws met the road instead our ghostly symbiotic flesh. _They just never learn, _I smirked under our mask as the beef-cake symbiote whirled around, his black clawed hands meeting in holy matrimony with our 'shields' as they buried themselves in the swirling white masses.

_Ready?_

There was no worded reply in the back of my head, but most of the time, silence was the ideal answer. With a loud sigh, our own symbiotic skin began to cover Venom's, encasing rather than absorbing. Giant white flame-shaped eyes broadened in panic as our shields quickly became snares, trapping Venom's arms and spreading to his broad shoulders. _**"Now Spider-Man!"**_ the all too familiar '_thwipping_' noise of webbing being ejected was a comfort as Venom began to wobble, a clear sign that his legs had been bound. With a mighty grunt, we hauled Venom through the air and down onto a random parked car, which despite all the chaos, was still in one piece.

**CRASH/_CRUNCH_**

With emphasis on '_was_', the car's condition immediately hit totaled as Venom's bulky frame slammed into it, the horn actuators thankfully being unharmed as they did just what we wanted them too. And that would be blaring like the sound-producing little fiends they were meant to be. Oh, and because the universe really seemed to hate Venom that day, the alarms of the other parked cars began to go off as well.

_That…worked a little too well…, _we convulsed as the noise only seemed to triple, but the sacrifice was no less necessary. "Whitey, hey Whitey bare with me!" Spider-Man gave our shoulders a light shake, which did some good to comfort us.

"_**We appreciate your concern, but you have more pressing matters to attend to" **_we shifted our warped gaze over onto a thrashing Venom, large areas of his host's body being exposed as the symbiote was attempting to flee. Whether or not he really wanted to flee, we didn't know, but from what we could see, it wouldn't take much to rip the black symbiote from whomever he was bonded to as they appeared to not have even been fully bonded. Spider-Man saw this as well, and wasted no time in using whatever web-fluid he probably had left to expend to snag the black symbiote and begin pulling.

We didn't join him for two reasons; one of them being that Spidey appeared to have everything under control, and the other…well, let's just say we felt for the poor little black goop.

"_**We are sorry it had to be this way…perhaps under different circumstances we could have been friends" **_Ghost joined me in our little sentimental moment, clearly perturbed by the Venom symbiote's squeals and yowls of pain as Spider-Man was getting closer and closer to yanking him off his host. Said host possessing blonde hair and a square jaw (the black symbiote was trying his damndest to conceal his host's face), and as one would guess, a very muscular body.

As Spidey was getting perilously close to finally detaching the black symbiote, the little guy pulled a wildcard and launched a tendril at our arachnid friend which then wrapped itself around the hero's waist. With what looked like a yank that took a lot of effort, the tendril then launched Spider-Man into the lobby of a nearby hotel. Body on auto-pilot, we rushed forward in a move to restrain the flailing symbiote as it quickly re-assumed it's terrifying form over its host. Sure the alarms were still blaring, but we needed to persist as the black symbiote was doing an excellent job of _resisting_ the noise. Persistence, my dear friends, is a scary thing sometimes. Especially when your current enemy seems to have more of it than you do. A fine example of this would be when our body suddenly went into a spasm, and thus, we were not prepared as a tendril lovingly encircled around our waist and pulled us closer to a smiling, toothy maw.

"**Different circumstances you say? Well then, why don't we both grab a drink-!"**

We were thrown with such force we easily crashed through a _brick wall_, earning shouts and screams from unsuspecting citizens as we continued to fly through the building and right into (what sounded like) an assortment of bottles, lots of bottles, from what we heard of the persistent noise of glass falling and shattering. _**"Ouch" **_we said dryly, standing on steady feet in time to spot a large black mass advance on us, paying no attention whatsoever to the people (sheep) gawking at him. _**"A bar…aren't you clever" **_a bottle, that contained a brand I did not know, fell and shattered upon meeting our head, easily subtracting from any intimidation and dignity that we had left.

"**We like to think we have the brains to back up our brawn" **as Venom got closer to us, everyone inside the bar then took that as their chance to collect their wits and leave. And not in a chaotic way, the manager of the bar took it upon herself to quietly organize and usher people out through the hole _we_ had created, the width of it easily allowing up to five people at a time to pass through. Once they were done, however, one person –a young guy who looked to be in his early twenties, lingered just long enough to smile and wave, running off as soon as Venom spun around to see if everyone had left. Apparently he was waiting for everyone to leave too, the big baddie clearly not wanting any unnecessary casualties. That was fine by us, even as those big white patches of eyes landed back on our own with an evil grin. **"And speaking of brains, I'm sure yours is del-" **we bodily threw ourselves to the side as Venom was brutally launched _headfirst_ into the mirror and then through the wall. Vaulting ourselves over the counter, we were then greeted by a bedraggled Spidey.

"Two Symbiotes and A Spider walk into a bar…" bedraggled, but spirit as high as ever.

"_**And completely trash the place" **_we indulged with a murmur, deflating a little as Venom pulled his head out from the wall, absolutely _infuriated_.

Feeling a pattern, we got into our battle stances, prepared to fight Venom through the night and right onto dawn if we had to. Thankfully, or not thankfully, a high-pitched frequency assaulted the premises, making both Ghost (and by default, myself) and Venom shriek in agony as the air around us rippled with visible sound waves. My symbiote clung on for dear life as we fell to our knees, our full-bond fighting the wretched noise with all its strength…though, that strength proved to be a weakness as we fought it to the point of unconsciousness.

As we faded, we looked over shoulder to see who the offender was, only catching a hint of red and gold as everything went black.

* * *

When we came to, we were in a sterile white room. Not unlike a standard hospital one, but it had its differences, such as that the equipment was nicer, and the only other person in the room was a scientist…not a nurse, or a doctor. Oh, and she was very familiar. And pissed, pissed with a capital 'P'.

"Claire" the woman with silver-streaked jet-black hair said monotonously with what sounded like the readiness to scold, her piercing hazel eyes making me (_us_) shudder. "Still taking clear advantage of your freedom I see"

I nodded sheepishly, my symbiote hesitantly snaking out from around my shoulders, _she knows -or has known_. **"I don't wish to sound impertinent, ma'am, but we were defending ourselves and one other" **he defended, realizing that my mouth seemed glued shut in that moment.

"Spider-Man? I am well aware of this…" she sighed, adjusting with a grimace "and if it were any other day, you two would be in for a scolding from myself and Fury"

We both gulped.

"However, Fury did not wish to try and rationalize with two beings that are supposedly rebels and have a nagging obligation to protect a city that's already well-protected. So he and my idiotic superiors thought they'd send me down, have mommy-dearest encourage you to back out while you two still have your heads…" she rubbed the bridge of her nose "Honestly, we should have just immediately enlisted you as an Agent once you were done with high-school, would have saved us a lot of embarrassment"

I don't know what made me more agitated, the snobbish woman in front of me, or the division she worked for that apparently knew of the 'White Rabbit' and disapproved of it…but, did NOT intervene up until that day. "Fury made it clear he didn't want us just sitting around, he said we were on our own. God forbid we use our freedom to protect the freedom of innocents…"

"And so you two take up a vigilante persona and make complete asses of yourselves"

_God, this woman hasn't changed_

Ghost frowned. **"From what I gathered, SHIELD has already been aware that we've been protecting these streets for years, hardly drawing any attention to ourselves. So now, pray tell, after we had risked our lives helping Spider-Man with a notorious menace, something we were probably made to do, why do you and SHIELD have such a **problem** with it?! Why intervene **now**?!" **

Hazel eyes narrowed. "Because after your little 'play-date' with Venom, SHIELD has _finally_ been made aware of the dangers of the bone-headed occupation you chose for yourselves. And they would love for you to stop while your real identity -or should I say _identities_\- are still not known to the public…" she stood, standing at an average height of 5'7''. Though the way she spoke, one would think she'd be taller. "I'm here, because you two made an '_oopsie_' and I need to persuade you to find a more suitable occupation before you make anymore '_oopsies_'…" she condescended as she walked over onto the right side of the bed, looming over my prone figure. And while she may not have had violent intent, Ghost wrapped around me protectively, hissing softly as the older woman scowled down at us. "I'm here to reinstate you back into SHIELD's ranks"

"And if we refuse?"

The hazel-eyed harpy scoffed. "What makes you think you have that choice?" and with a parting sneer, she then left. Both me and Ghost sighed in pure relief as the door clicked shut, the symbiote massaging my temples as I twirled a few locks worth of hair between my index and middle fingers, all too happy that I had auburn hair and brown eyes, both of which were not from that horrid woman.

All too happy that absolutely _nothing _of my genetic make-up was from her.

"Whatever you say, 'Mother'"

* * *

**Feel the love XD**

**Anyway, did you all enjoy Chapter 2? What do you think happened to Venom? Will Claire and Ghost really rejoin SHIELD?! *takes a breather* find out next chapter :) **

**Also, I'm not the greatest with fight scenes, but I try. If anyone has any tips, please share :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Marvel. I only own my OC's**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Surprises are the Worst**

**Recap**

_Ghost frowned._ **"From what I gathered, SHIELD has already been aware that we've been protecting these streets for years, hardly drawing any attention to ourselves. So now, pray tell, after we had risked our lives helping Spider-Man with a notorious menace, something we were probably made to do, why do you and SHIELD have such a **problem** with it?! Why intervene **now**?!"**

_Hazel eyes narrowed. "Because after your little 'play-date' with Venom, SHIELD has finally been made aware of the dangers of the bone-headed occupation you chose for yourselves. And they would love for you to stop while your real identity -or should I say identities- are still not known to the public…" she stood, standing at an average height of 5'7''. Though the way she spoke, one would think she'd be taller. "I'm here, because you two made an 'oopsie' and I need to persuade you to find a more suitable occupation before you make anymore 'oopsies'…" she condescended as she walked over onto the right side of the bed, looming over my prone figure. And while she may not have had violent intent, Ghost wrapped around me protectively, hissing softly as the older woman scowled down at us. "I'm here to reinstate you back into SHIELD's ranks"_

_"And if we refuse?"_

_The hazel-eyed harpy scoffed. "What makes you think you have that choice?" and with a parting sneer, she then left. Both me and Ghost sighed in pure relief as the door clicked shut, the symbiote massaging my temples as I twirled a few locks worth of hair between my index and middle fingers, all too happy that I had auburn hair and brown eyes, both of which were not from that horrid woman._

_All too happy that absolutely nothing of my genetic make-up was from her._

_"Whatever you say, 'Mother'"_

* * *

We sat there, eyes glued on the paneled ceiling above us, the occasional twitch of the finger or blinking of the eyelids our only movement. It really shouldn't have taken much thought, especially since we usually would ignore any discouragement from unwelcomed sources and go about our daily agenda of keeping innocents safe, of keeping a _whole city_ safe. Sure our efforts were frowned upon, or overlooked, and often taken for granted…but a little 'bad' reputation -that mostly wasn't even ours- would certainly pave the way for a better one as long as we kept at the good deeds. Right?

Okay, maybe not. Society was a fickle and fragile thing, and the government (and by default, SHIELD) was there to nurse it, 'comfort' (brainwash) it, cater to its every whim. And sadly enough, we were aware that our very existence was but a _piece_, a _pawn_ in a much larger game. Like chess, but more screwy and convoluted. We perhaps knew that SHIELD, after granting us 'freedom' at the tender age of fifteen (to clarify, yes we were home alone, but in exchange for our weekly reports, SHIELD would send a hefty pay check to take care of bills) very much intended for us to reestablish contact with them once we were done with high-school, expecting us to happily come running to them like an eager dog coming back with a stick they had thrown, assuming that their little groomed mutt would want to keep playing fetch…because from what we had recently gathered, they knew what our hours after high-school were like, they knew that we were honing our skills in protecting people and defusing disorder. Hell, they very likely knew that we would help out Spider-Man every chance we got.

Yet they didn't intervene until we got involved with a supposed real threat.

And that's what _displeased_ them.

As we sat there pondering, the answer became clearer and _clearer_:

They knew what we did in the past, up until the very present, and they damn well condoned it.

Why? Because they approved, that's what. They approved of us mingling with whatever hero we could (i.e. _one_), making a name for ourselves as both the civilian and criminal population judged us. They were so confident in having us gain a reputation as a well-known vigilante in our youth (er, _younger_ youth), we'd eventually turn to them for a more legitimate step in our anti-crime career once we became an 'adult'.

And what better way to do that, than to become an Avenger?

Our combined minds churned with the pleasure of the notion that we had denied them in such a subtle way all those years ago, our inner rebel broiling with satisfaction as we remembered our first day of college.

"**That must have really irked them…"**Ghost chuckled, "**or should I say 'her'"**

I snorted, "Most mothers would be proud that their child went to college..."

"**Excluding the simple fact that she's not really our –**you're** mother…"**

"So true"I sighed, my reddish-brown orbs bored into the ceiling with no other purpose but to burn a hole into it, such a shame that my normal human gaze couldn't do such a thing.

I was no Scott Summers.

"Is it weird that I almost feel bad for Nick?"

"**How so?"**

"He's probably been monitoring our progress from our very birth, so sure that we'd turn out as the next Captain America, or something of the like…" a lock of hair fell into my face, I grimaced as I blew the little bugger off "all these years of training us, of grooming us, and we just throw a monkey wrench into their well-oiled plans…into _his_ well-oiled plans"

The ghostly-white serpentine blob that was my friend coiled back around to face me, his equally white eyes studying me with what can only be best described as irritation. **"Even if we didn't join the Avengers all those years ago, as they had so badly wanted, we still have been fulfilling a purpose close to that…" **the adorable little Klyntar blob gurgled sharply **"We –**you** shouldn't feel sorry for wanting to live your own life"**

He couldn't be more right.

Though with the strong sense of agreement I sent through our bond, I'm sure he also felt my hesitation. "I would really love to bust out of here, beat some ass and flip some birds, and continue living this life as you have so kindly put it, but…"

"**But, **what**?" **

"Would running away from SHIELD really be such a wise idea? I don't want to be in the middle of beating some thug's ass or working on a painting before I'm rudely interrupted by a small army of their Agents, or perhaps get a visit from the FBI or CIA"

Flashes of Ghost's thought processes went through my own conscious mind. His bravado shrinking in size, inwardly and outwardly as his little amorphous form seemed to deflate. **"That wouldn't be very nice of them…"**

"You don't get to be the top-dog of secret national security programs by being nice, sorry honeybunch"

I got a grumble as a response (somewhere along the lines of: '_don't call me honeybunch_'), the little white Klyntar retreating to my shoulder to brood some more before snaking back around. **"What do you suggest we do then?"**

Then, it was _my_ turn to grumble.

* * *

We stood before the office door, pride largely dwindled but we made up for it as we waited in a sharp outfit that Ghost had kindly formed to make us look more professional. It consisted of a white 'satin' button-up shirt and pencil skirt. Complete with _three-inch_ heels of matching color. Because six-inch would surely kill us, we were not desperate enough to look _that tall_. Our (my) auburn tresses (that was just a tad darker than regular auburn) coming down in all their long, wavy glory because we didn't have the slightest clue what the hair standards were amongst Agents. That and we didn't care enough to know. It's not as if we went to see Nick Fury himself, because he was currently not in the building, so we made due with visiting one of the offices of a moderately ranked Agent. Who, like Coulson and a small handful of other people within the confines, we were good friends with. Though they were a little stern, they were not as condescending and oppressive as Bitch-Face McGee (I'm confident you all know who I'm referring to there). In fact, she didn't appear to acknowledge any flaws with our appearance. Instead, she just waved us on in, her face one of practiced neutrality.

"Claire Somers" dark-brown, almost black eyes scanned our little 'name-tag'.

"Yes ma'am" we sat down in the godly-comfort that was the plush green arm-chair, biting back a groan as we adjusted. _So…comfy…must…not…_

_**Claire…?**_

_Hmmm...?_

_**Eye contact?**_

Blushing like a mad fiend, I locked our eyes onto the older woman. She looked to be showing some amusement, but was otherwise stone-faced. "It's been awhile, how have you been?"

Goodbye professional inquiry, hello casual chatter.

"We've been faring well Agent Jones. Have you watched the news lately?"

The faintest trace of a smirk graced the tanned woman's features. "Considering my occupation, not an hour passes when my face isn't glued to a media device"

Ghost manifested himself atop my shoulder, little marshmallow body snuggling comfortably against the crook of my neck. If it were anyone else seated across from us, he would have poised himself as a rigid snake. "So you know we turned out to be much more than mere artists"

"Ass-kicking is an art form, Ms. Somers…" dark eyes were on the verge of laughing "an art-form you're going to have to hone some more if you want to take on the likes of Venom"

I opened my mouth-

"_Without_ help"

-and promptly shut it, flustered, Ghost giggling like a little girl whereas I mentally told him to shove it.

Waiting for the blood in my body to resume normal circulation, I began to speak, carefully picking out the words (or rather _word_) to avoid further embarrassment. "…Mel…" said woman peered earnestly into my nervous gaze. Knowing that I only addressed her by her nickname when I wanted to have my walls crumble a little. "I –_we_ know why you brought us here, and it's not to have us enlisted as an Agent like Dr. Mitchell has so kindly shared with us…"

"Took you that long huh?"

Both me and Ghost blushed (FWI, Klyntars can blush, little buggers just _borrow_ blood) as we had a vague recollection of Fury's little speech all those years ago. "We were daydreaming of chocolate…"

"I recall you guys receiving your phenylethylamine dose before that"

We both gave her a blank stare. "Those cannot compare to chocolate and you _know_ it" I spoke (a tad too dramatically) on both our behalf. Exhaling, I resumed on a more serious note, "Fury wants us to join the Avengers. And, to be quite frank, we don't feel ready for such a responsibility"

We received no scolding, no roll of the eyes, no condescending leer. Not even a look of pity, we got an honest-to-God look of total empathy. Not sympathy, _empathy_. "I'm not going to shovel that whole '_you were made for this_' crap onto you, because in truth Claire; you weren't _made_, you were _born_…" black-coffee eyes warmed exponentially as they landed on Ghost "same goes with you little marshmallow" and then shot up to greet my lighter-shade of browns "And you damn well have a choice, although it may come with its own set of draw-backs, it's still there for you to take"

Although it was what we both wanted to hear, and act on, it still did not sway us from why we were really in her office. Our minds made up before we even walked into the cubicle.

_Damn it Mel that was such a good speech…_

_**She should be the Director of SHIELD**_

_Right?!_

We both sighed out loud. "Thanks Mel, it was a good speech and all-"

"But you came here because you wanted to be reinstated into SHIELD…" she gave her own little exasperated sigh "…if so, then I am to brief you on your initiation, or _re_-initiation, and procure to you a suit and tag…". Dark eyes gave us a once over, "…though, I think I'll just do one of those"

We just shrugged as slender fingers deftly typed away on the keyboard whilst handing us a crisp green folder.

* * *

It was an escort mission. And not just any ordinary escort mission, because it wouldn't have been interesting if it were ordinary, nope, ordinary would have applied to a _human being _of political or military significance. And surprise-surprise, we were escorting someone (that could have easily been mistaken as a 'something') that was the latter…just minus the '_human being_' bit. Though 'he' was merely but an amorphous black goop, 'he' indubitably had a high military value and it would have made more sense to bring him to the nearest installation, but that was trumped greatly by the aim of scientific study and so it was decided that containment within some nameless facility in the wilderness of the lovely state of New York was the better option. And thus, we were in the wilds with just a single truck that was outfitted to look as least conspicuous as possible, with but four men (one of them the driver) and one woman (guess who) guarding a cylindrical container that preserved and displayed the agitated swirling mass that was Venom through bullet-proof plexi-glass.

And guess who got to hold the container?

_Hard to believe this little guy was so close to tearing us a new one nearly twenty-four hours ago_

_**This 'little guy' is formidable, we should take care not to let our guard down, **_Ghost extended out from my shoulder, careful to still keep my shoulder concealed with the 'blouse', his pale serpentine form thankfully not drawing much of a panicked reaction from the men sitting across from us. If anything, they were more in awe of my little Klyntar.

"So uh…" a young guy that looked to be around our age (maybe even younger) and was clearly a rookie began with an anxious gulp "…you're the White Rabbit?"

"**Brilliant deduction" **Ghost jeered, so I flicked him.

"Be nice"

"**You ask too much of me, woman"**

He was in one of _those_ moods. With a huff, I glanced between the three men that shared our space, all of which were reining in their smirks. "Any of you guys have chocolate? Makes him more _cooperative_"

The rookie was the first to procure a Hershey's bar, and because he was smart, handed over the whole thing, which then only lasted a whole four seconds before the wrapper shot out of Ghost's unmerciful maw and right onto the floor.

"Okay, kid, ask away" I grinned at his pale expression.

"…I uh, just wanted to ask...how long have you been in SHIELD?"

"I-"

"**We"**

"We been in since birth kiddo, our only reprieve was when we entered high-school"

"So, you became the White Rabbit _after_ you quit?"

The man situated to the left of the rookie, that we have seen only glimpses of over the course of our childhood with his grey-streaked blonde hair and cool grey eyes, kindly added "Not so much quitting, as it is taking a vacation"

"An _eight year_ vacation" another man, who was new to us but was not a rookie, muttered from the right of his younger comrade.

Me and Ghost both grinned at that, likely sending a chill down the spines of at least one of the men. "Hey now, you say that like we just lounged around, when in truth-"

"You were keeping the city safe…" the rookie piped up, but with every following word, his volume lowered, "…same as Spider-Man…" his bashfulness seemingly revealing his true age as his eyes darted to his gun, his hands nervously fidgeting with the weapon, which then elicited anxious glares from his two buddies, whom were clearly not amused with how he handled his firearm. The eldest man, who we remembered as Mason Burns gently prying the 9 mm from the antsy guard with a sigh, his large hands showing more skillful handling than the rookie as he placed it in some secret holster that integrated quite well into his uniform, funnily enough, the rookie did not argue as he just set his focus back on us. "What I was trying to get at was, well, I just didn't expect to meet you…I always thought you were more of a lone wolf" he scratched the back of his head "I never anticipated getting to actually _work_ with the White Rabbit when I enlisted. This all seems like one whacked out dream-". The poor kid jumped perhaps a solid good inch off his seat, yelping with such intensity it made Ghost and Venom squirm. The culprit smirking as he withdrew his hand, the pinching motion of it making it quite evident what he did. 'Marx' from what we read on his name-tag, was fairly satisfied with himself.

"Still think you're dreaming?"

"Damn it Ryan, you didn't need to _pinch_ me man!"

It was there that we realized that the rookie also had 'Marx' on his name-tag.

_**Awww they're brothers**_

_Is that jealousy I hear?_

_**No…**_

It clearly was, but I didn't pry, instead clearing my throat to get the rookie's attention. "You sounded like you were about to go on a fan-boy monologue"

"That's why I pinched him"

"Shut up Ryan"

"Love you Wyatt"

Ghost took that as his time to speak up, but not before licking away the remaining chocolate on his lips. **"Hmmm, you're not afraid of us…"**

"Huh?"

The white Klyntar slowly inched forward, stopping only when the young man seated across from us looked like he was going to pee his pants. Venom stirred within the container, very calm, as if interested in where this was going. **"There are but a handful of people we know that have treated us like civil beings…everyone else sees us as monsters"**

"I don't think you guys are monsters. And neither do my siblings"

_Sib__**lings**__?_

"We actually hold you on the same pedestal as Spider-Man, even if you are just a vigilante" Ryan Marx shrugged, playfully flicking the younger Marx in the ear, something that made Burns scowl as the older man grumbled "_boys_" under his breath.

"Well, you guys have certainly surprised us…most people try their damndest to get away from us let alone bother to start conversation"

"**That they shouldn't even bother do if they don't give us chocolate"**

"If they don't give _you_ chocolate, Ghost"

There was some shifting from the front of the vehicle, the little panel that covered the opening in the divider between us and the driver sliding to reveal the right side of a man's face. "How's everybody back there?"

"**NEED AIR-"** my hand flew to Ghost's toothy maw; effectively shutting it, but not before the little white turd nipped my hand.

"We're all good, thank you"

The driver nodded "And the package?". We looked over the container even though its condition hadn't changed at all within the last four or so hours we've been on the road, Venom wriggling like Jell-O as I examined him for any damage.

"He's just peachy"

With a nod, the burly man closed the panel, leaving us in dim lighting once more. We sat in silence in that dim lighting for ten minutes, the only noise coming from Venom's containment unit as it would spray him with vital gases and the little blob would slosh around, relishing in the misty vapor (or perhaps he was just anxious?). That was until the younger Marx sibling took it upon himself to resume chatter, again. "Why 'White Rabbit'?" baby-blues studied us thoughtfully as I slowly removed my hand from Ghost's mouth, the pale symbiote thankfully behaving himself, "Is it a reference to Alice In Wonderland?". At this, even Burns and the other Marx sibling leaned in, intrigued.

"No, sorry…" I absentmindedly started patting Ghost's little blobby head "Our name instead refers to what an actual white rabbit symbolizes"

"Rebirth" Burns supplied, not missing a beat. _These fellas catch on quick…_

"**It's also in tribute to a childhood friend we had…" **Ghost trailed off, unsure whether to continue or not as he shot me a nervous glance. I nodded, seeing as how it was too late to hold back.

"He would often call us -or rather me- 'little bunny' or 'rabbit' because, well, that's what we reminded him of"

Ryan cocked a questioning eyebrow. Same with the other two as they had no doubt caught onto the other slip up.

"You '_had_' a childhood friend?" they all asked in unison, two pairs of blue eyes and a single grey one boring into us inquisitively. And we would have been glad to answer them, if it weren't for the squeal of tires interrupting us, our bodies lurching to the front of the vehicle –this all making Ghost retreat back inside, protectively wrapping the container in fear of it becoming a projectile. As the large van finally came to a halt, we all looked at one another in dumb-founded silence as we heard car doors slamming (including the driver's door of our van), shouting, and rushed footfalls come from outside, Mason Burns being the first one out of his seat as he grumbled "_what the actual hell_", the grizzled man stomping toward the back-doors of the armored van.

In but a short span of time, six things happened almost all at once:

The doors opening before Mason could even reach for them, the bullets ripping through any parts of Mason that weren't protected by his armor (such as the legs, not the head, thank God), knocking the big man backwards, Ghost shielding me and the Marx brothers, Ghost shrieking as high-frequencies entered, and then reverberated off the walls of the van. The panicked shouts of the Marx brothers as they returned fire from behind a damaged Ghost (Wyatt proving that he had more than one gun on him), the two slumping to the ground after they were then nailed by tranquilizers.

With a pained growl, we spun around to defend the only being we still could, our back erupting into a flurry of symbiotic appendages that broke off into vicious claws at each and every end.

Everything hurt, and we really did not want any blood (or any more blood) on our hands, but our self-control was steadily slipping along with our consciousness. So with an enraged snarl, we grasped the container and the incapacitated bodies that were our newfound pals as if they were precious treasures, ripping through the ceiling of the van as our clawed appendages then took on the form of wings. As soon as we were in the air, we released a barrage of wing-javelins at our attackers. There were grunts and groans, but the infuriating noise would not relent. Desperate, we tried to fly away, 'fight' giving into 'flight' (literally). We just barely made it over the tree line, only to crash through the trees and into the ground in a pitiful heap as Ghost gave that final screech and succumbed to the noise, taking me with him.

* * *

We awoke with a start, wailing and thrashing, only to go limp when we acknowledged the frequencies pulsing on every side of us. And if that didn't do the trick in restraining us, heat-emitting braces around our ankles, waist, and wrists sure did.

_**Claire…so…weak…can't…**_

_Don't push yourself…please…_

_**Our…vibes…not…work…**_

_Ghost…please, rest_

_**Okay**_

I felt Ghost sliver from my cerebral cortex, down my spine, and ultimately situate himself between my stomach and liver. Knowing that he was safe and was going to recover, my thoughts then went to another Klyntar as well as the three men that we had so easily befriended, taking deep breaths as I assured myself that they weren't dead, though one of them was badly injured and dying.

I squeezed my eyes shut, my assuring thoughts quickly morphing into morbid ones.

_Stop, just stop…deep breaths…they're alive...they just were captured, Venom too, they're all nearby. I just need to free myself, find them…save…-_

I yelped upon feeling the frequencies intensify, same with the heat emitting from the restraints. Whoever was monitoring me seemed to not have a rhyme or reason behind doing so as the pain would fluctuate between bad, to worse, to nothing at all, then back to worse. It was pretty clear that the sicko behind the controls didn't care for my good, submissive whimpering. And they _really_ didn't care for my more _aggressive_ approach (throw obscenities, suggestions on what they could do to themselves, etc.), nope, they just went going about their little 'tests'. Which lasted for close to a minute before the sadistic monkey in a lab coat decided we had endured enough torture. The overhead lights above us flicking out consecutively, plunging us into much needed darkness. The braces and the fierce resonations finally dulled down, but did not go completely away, because apparently, we were just that threatening. Even as we were reduced to a shaking, sobbing, and distraught mess, we were still feared. The thought was both insulting…and flattering.

_We may not be killers…but damn it, these guys are really pushing it_

_**Everything hurts, Claire**_

I frowned, _all the more reason why you should try to rest while you can_

_**I tried; I can't…something's preventing me from doing so**_

_Whoever was behind playing Dubstep with the controls is gone now, please, try to rest_

_**I know they are, but they were only half the reason I couldn't relax**_

I knew Klyntars couldn't 'sleep' per se, but they did need to take some time to heal or perhaps be left to their own thoughts or need to ease emotional strain. All of that being what I'd refer to as 'rest'. And Ghost really loved to 'rest' every chance he got. _What's…the other half…? _

An unsettled feeling churned in my gut at Ghost's reluctance.

_**Claire…I'm going to split soon…**_

Insert dumbass moment here: _What?_

_**Claire…I'm going to give birth**_

* * *

**Hell of a time to be captured huh? Yes, I may or may not have my evil moments, but it's one of the liberties of being a writer XD**

**I was almost tempted to NOT have the main character rejoin SHIELD, for obvious reasons, but the little plot bunnies in my head insisted that it would open the opportunity I needed for this story :)**

**Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, spread the love!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Terribly sorry for the long wait!**

**I do not own Marvel. I only own my OC's and headcanons.**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Baby Shower**

_**Recap**_

_I yelped upon feeling the frequencies intensify, same with the heat emitting from the restraints. Whoever was monitoring me seemed to not have a rhyme or reason behind doing so as the pain would fluctuate between bad, to worse, to nothing at all, then back to worse. It was pretty clear that the sicko behind the controls didn't care for my good, submissive whimpering. And they really didn't care for my more aggressive approach (throw obscenities, suggestions on what they could do to themselves, etc.), nope, they just went going about their little 'tests'. Which lasted for close to a minute before the sadistic monkey in a lab coat decided we had endured enough torture. The overhead lights above us flicking out consecutively, plunging us into much needed darkness. The braces and the fierce resonations finally dulled down, but did not go completely away, because apparently, we were just that threatening. Even as we were reduced to a shaking, sobbing, and distraught mess, we were still feared. The thought was both insulting…and flattering._

_'We may not be killers…but damn it, these guys are really pushing it'_

_**'Everything hurts, Claire'**_

_I frowned, 'all the more reason why you should try to rest while you can'_

_**'I tried; I can't…something's preventing me from doing so'**_

_'Whoever was behind playing Dubstep with the controls is gone now, please, try to rest'_

_**'I know they are, but they were only half the reason I couldn't relax'**_

_I knew Klyntars couldn't 'sleep' per se, but they did need to take some time to heal or perhaps be left to their own thoughts or need to ease emotional strain. All of that being what I'd refer to as 'rest'. And Ghost really loved to 'rest' every chance he got. 'What's…the other half…?'_

_An unsettled feeling churned in my gut at Ghost's reluctance._

_**'Claire…I'm going to split soon…'**_

_Insert dumbass moment here: 'What?'_

_**'Claire…I'm going to give birth'**_

* * *

I could only stare at my lap, stunned by the news. It was there, that the gravity of our situation only got stronger.

More pressure. More strain.

More reason to escape.

_This is so sudden… _my eyes began to sting a little from unshed tears. _Why didn't you tell me sooner…? _My tone wasn't accusatory, I didn't wish to stress out Ghost anymore than he already was, but I couldn't help the hurt from slipping in. Pregnancy was pregnancy, no matter what species. And as such, there's always a period of development before the birth, where one is all too aware they are expecting. I only had to assume Klyntars weren't so different. And if so, they would certainly not wait to the last (and worst) minute to inform their host. Sigh.

_**I was going to tell you, once we delivered Venom, but…**_

_But then this happened_

_**Precisely, I wasn't due for perhaps the next few days or so. However, because of the extreme stress we have endured, the birthing will be much sooner than expected. A sort of 'defense mechanism' if you will**_

_A defense mechanism for your unborn offspring... _There was a resounding bang as my head met the cold metal of the restraint chair. Relieved that my symbiote _was_ going to tell me something so critical, but irritated that certain events had ultimately made the news of that critical something come at a much later, _inconvenient _time. So with a deep inhale, and another exasperated banging of the head, we began to think of an escape plan. And sadly enough, it wasn't as simple as phasing through our high-tech heat-emitting shackles. Though we could technically do that, we needed something to kill the noise first. Killing the noise…was the first, but hardest, phase of the ONLY escape plan we could think of. Or rather the only one we could think of that would work.

_Whoever our ass-hat captors are, they certainly know their way around a symbiote_

_**Claire?**_

I focused my eyes back on my lap, to show I was listening.

_**I noticed something odd…earlier, shortly before we were captured; the driver left the vehicle we were in, and I recall not hearing our captors firing on him…**_

_Son of a- _I (or rather we) jumped upon hearing whistling. Whistling was something that the egg-heads didn't do (especially since it was more of a cat-call), and it also didn't come from the control room in front of us. Interest piqued, my head pivoted to the source of the noise. That source not something we took note of at all earlier. Instead of looking at a wall as we had previously guessed, we were really looking through (speculatively) ballistic glass, the other side cloaked in near darkness, a single dim bulb worth of light easily overpowering our own pitch black cell. It was no wonder why we didn't see the other room during our torture session, the brightness on our side in that time reflected off the glass, rendering the neighboring cell invisible. But now that we were in the shadows, and upon closer and more focused examination, we found a figure bound to a slab. A table that had regular leather, metal-buckled restraints, best suited to normal human beings as opposed to ones with symbiotes. We could also see very clearly that the figure was a lean, red-headed man, and that he was grinning from ear to ear, that same lecherous grin broadening even more upon seeing that he had our undivided attention. "So what are you in for, _sweet-stuff_?"

Before our waking in the cell, someone had stripped us down from what very little we had on under our symbiotic suit, and had apparently had the actual _decency_ to put fresh clothes and undergarments on us. And while a t-shirt covered more than a sports bra, it only came down to just above the underwear, our legs very much exposed to the perv in the next cell. Oh yeah, and that perv was clad in an orange jumpsuit. Goodie.

"With all due respect dear sir, I should be asking _you_ that" I did a very visible once over to emphasize my point. Our neighbor's grin didn't falter.

"Oh a proper gal huh? Talkin' all high n' mighty even as she's tied to a chair" the red-head rolled his shoulders, his grin remaining plastered to his face as he stared off at the ceiling. "It's always fun hearing you snooty types scream"

"Oh, well shit man, if that's how you are when someone's being polite…" I feigned a shiver "I can't imagine how much of an _asshole_ you'll be if they're rude"

That grin turned back on us, his (green?) eyes sparkling with sheer lunacy.

_**Never before have I seen a human that can grin that long**_

_Have you ever heard that if you make a face long enough, it will stay like that?_

_**Our 'Mother' told us that every time we made faces at her**_

_Same deal with this guy_

"Why I'm so glad you asked, sweetie…"

And that's where he told us, in explicit detail, how he would do such a thing…which quickly transitioned into how he had murdered all his past victims. I'd tell you, but at the expense of my lunch, and perhaps a good day and a half of your time. But what I can tell you was that the man didn't at all explain just _why_ he killed all those people, or maybe if he did, he must have simply glossed over the details so quick me and Ghost couldn't process them. As if the '_why_' wasn't important at all.

Once he finished, _Cletus Kasady_ stretched whatever parts of his body weren't restrained, all while not acknowledging our open-mouthed glare. _I don't want to say this…but Jesus Christ…_

_**Not even your knowledge from your previous life could have prepared you for this**_

_I knew I saw that mop of red hair before…_

I didn't try to use such 'knowledge' when it came to events in such an alternate universe, whether they have already occurred or have yet to have occurred. Because eight times out of ten, they either didn't happen, or they happened differently. For people, it was different; I could actually name a good number of heroes and villains. But alas, most came up as a blur, their importance not at all factored into my memory. And because of this, I was not at all prepared to be face-to-face with a to-be Carnage. Even so, I shared whatever I could with Ghost.

_**We should keep a close eye on him**_

_Forget 'close eye', we should keep all eyes on this mo-fo_

_**Smartass- **_Ghost's grumble was cut short with a pained whimper. And since we were fully bonded, I felt that shit too. My body instinctively tugging against our restraints even though we already knew it was pointless. After our futile attempt, with just made due with bearing our (my) teeth and loudly hissing every obscenity we knew. Our string of curses not escaping the ears of a deranged Raggedy Andy (hehe see what I did there?).

"Ey"

_Ah –what the hell does he want now?! _

"You never answered my question"

I sighed, the rage of being a host to an 'expecting' symbiote filtering through. "If you really must know, I'm with SHIELD. We were transporting important cargo, but we got blindsided by people who were equipped to deal with us"

Cletus's grin became less forced, if by just a smidgen. "Probably the same ass-clowns that busted into my cell"

Now it was our turn to be interested. "Have they taken other inmates?" my brown orbs studied the killer in the neighboring cell, as he seemed to mull over what I asked.

"What's it to ya, _baby-cakes_"

_Dear God…_

…_**give us strength**_

"Hmmmm, lemme think…" I didn't want to use the tone I was using, but our 'pregnancy' and the grinning red-head were really wracking our nerves "because I'm probably your best bet at getting out of this shit-show? Of shutting this whole operation down once we do…?" we took a deep breath "_and_ I can only do that if I have some idea as to what we're dealing with here"

Cletus gave us a long, hard glare. And finally, his Cheshire grin dissolved into a thin line, on the precipice of becoming a frown. "Oh _fine_, be like that…" half-lidded green eyes remained fixed on the ceiling above "Yea, they took a small handful of other inmates. Hell, I thought I even saw em' bring a Cape along too"

We just about snapped our own damn neck with how fast it spun to face the psychopath. "S-Seriously?!"

"I ain't jokin' around, can't you tell?"

Surely enough, his face was neutral. Why wouldn't it be? In the predicament we were both in, one couldn't afford to joke around, even if they were some psychotic serial-killer with a twisted sense of humor. "Okay…I believe you, is there anything else you saw? Heard…?"

With a few mutterings and grumbles that sounded very much like '_she should be payin' me for this_', Cletus exhaled sharply. "They were awfully quiet, tried spreadin' the love with a joke or two but they didn't even so much as give me a glance…"

"Tough room?" we figured we'd indulge him, if it meant getting more info.

"Very, like they were born with sticks up their asses –wait, _not _sticks, more like two-by-fours…"

_**Must not laugh**_

_Never let it be said mass-murderers aren't funny_

"…anyway, there was a mention of a name…"

We tensed, eager to hear whatever he was going to share. Not at all anticipating what was really going to come after. "_But_, I'll tell ya after we get outta these cells"

With an irritated hiss, we pulled against our restraints, very much wanting to phase through the binds, then the ballistic glass, just to inflict bodily harm (and perhaps much, _much_ worse) on the snickering serial killer. "Why _you_-"

"Ey now, I ain't no dummy…" green eyes darkened in the dim lighting "I know for a _fact_ that once I share anymore with ya, you'll just up and leave me once you find a way outta here"

_**Damn…**_

He nailed it, to be honest. Whatever atrocities they were performing in the bunker, we figured it was a suitable fate for a serial killer of Cletus's magnitude. We were vigilantes, not heroes; we felt no obligation to protect someone as far gone as Mr. Kasady. We also knew fairly well that letting him 'die' in God-knows-where would prevent the making of Carnage. Sure the arrival of the symbiote himself was inevitable, _but_, we could remove Cletus from the equation, and perhaps forge another path for the 'son' of Venom.

Too bad Cletus had to be smarter than we had assumed. And so our plans had seemingly been derailed. Momentarily that is, as Ghost had been the one to (begrudgingly) suggest a plan. _**We can use him**_

_Must we…?_

_**Yes, and after we get what -and who- we want, we'll just air-lift is sorry ass to the nearest jail cell**_

_I'm perfectly okay with this plan, all but the part where we have to work with the MF'er_

_**Claire… **_we both groaned with '_the_' pains. Ugh.

_Right, right, I won't wuss out_

"Ey" we turned to see Mr. Kasady's frown and furrowed brows, "Why do you keep doin' that?"

"Spacing out? Let's just say that it ties in with my '_special_' treatment"

"Well you should _knock that shit off_ and focus on getting us on outta here"

"Our escape should be a combined effort, _Kasady_"

With that, the deranged red-head merely grinned his signature grin, with 20 percent more smug. "Precisely baby-cakes…" hands that have taken so many lives, and would definitely continue to do so suddenly shot up, unbound "what the _hell _have you been doin'?". We could only gape as Cletus proceeded to cut himself free with a rather vicious-looking knife, humming as he pulled out something rectangular, flat, and shiny from somewhere within his jumpsuit. Proceeding to the door, he then used the piece of plastic, which was revealed to be a key-card, as he then slipped into the control room/office that occupied a space the size of both our cells, no walls to divide it as his shadowy figure glided on over to a panel that held a vast amount of dials, levers, and buttons. All of which were instruments of our suffering. And because he was a cheeky, sadistic bastard, Cletus gave an over the shoulder grin as his hand hovered over a small dial, giving it an experimental turn. The dB's making us release a high-pitched yelp to confirm his 'guess', the red-head continuing to play with it some more before finally dialing it all the way down. In doing so, we wasted no time in mustering enough strength and energy to phase through the heat-emitting braces as pure white symbiotic flesh covered me. With a growl, we then phased through the wall and into the control room, grabbing Cletus by the scruff of his neck, our teeth bared just a centimeter from his face.

"_**It will be in your best interest if you **__don't__** piss us off again"**_

In a moment of indubitable sanity, Cletus gulped and nodded.

* * *

_**Claire**_

Upon taking another turn down another corridor, with Cletus hot on our heels, and double-checking for any surveillance (one would be surprised how very little cameras there were) I inwardly acknowledged my symbiote partner. _Yessss my little marshmallow?_

_**When we get out of here, can we go on a date?**_

_Why? Is a life-death situation a big turn-on for Klyntar?_

_**It's just after coming so close to death, it makes me want to appreciate life even more**_

_You can just say '_yes_', silly_, we paused at a stairway that led upward, peeking cautiously to see two guards equipped with sonic emitters and regular guns. Turning around to see that Cletus was still breathing down our neck, we then grew two elongated masses from our back, the ends of which had formed into claws as they silently traveled toward our targets. With a soft inhale, we grabbed the guards from around their necks and mouths, reeling them swiftly in so we could knock them unconscious. Upon placing the pawns in a conveniently located metal cabinet and making sure Kasady didn't slit their throats, we then quietly made our way up the stairs. _So who did you have in mind? _I asked through our mental bond, cautiously reaching the top of the stairs to see that it was unguarded.

_**My thoughts keep wandering to that snow-haired girl…**_

_Whatever you want man, I'm all for it_

_**We've never been on a date before…what if she says no?**_

_Then we'll keep pressing damn it, _we entered another hallway, this one lined with a few or so doors. Deciding to try our luck in finding any of our missing comrades (and Venom) we randomly picked a door and phased through. Cletus, seeing that we were distracting ourselves from our ultimate goal of escaping with _him_ specifically, was far from pleased. Such a shame (insert sarcasm here) that his knife was not at all threatening to us otherwise he probably would have pressed it against our throat. "What are you doing?! We don't have time for this shit!" he hissed, _attempting_ to get in our way as we swatted him aside and rushed hurriedly through the wall that separated the lab from the experimentation room, and toward a bound (and alive) Mason Burns. Any poor soul (not really) inside the lab completely at the mercy of Cletus as we focused solely on freeing the groaning man on the slab, helping him to his feet once we freed him. Once inside the lab, we saw that Cletus had a high ol' time with a couple of scientists that had the misfortune of being in there at such an ungodly hour (from what we had gathered from the clocks lying about). With a huff, and ensuring that Burns was secured snugly within our 'wing-claws', we reluctantly took a key-card off from one of the recently deceased scientists and used it to leave the room (because our intangibility could not be applied to other people, even if we touched them). Cletus followed behind us eagerly, his 'blood-lust' temporarily sated.

* * *

As the minutes passed, our pain only tripled as the birth of Ghost's offspring drew ever nearer, making us crankier, and also making our tolerance of Cletus Kasady wane greatly even as the red-head was seemingly on his best behavior.

"Hey" fortunately, a recovering Burns spoke, assuaging our rising temper. "You two alright?"

"Just pea-"

"Not you, you psychotic bastard, I was talking to _them_" the older man kindly cut of Cletus with a huff, jabbing his thumb toward us instead. The chiding tone made the red-head growl, because with us in the way, that's all he _could_ do.

"_**We…" **_we hated to show weakness in front of the grizzled SHIELD agent and the serial killer, however, lying would have only made things worse. _**"We are expecting" **_funnily enough, Burns took longer to process our 'news' than a flabbergasted Kasady.

"Y-you're _preggers_?!" the red-headed mass murderer wasn't stuttering from shock, but from laughter. Bastard. "S-sure as hell explains why yer so snappy! D-damn, and 'ere I was thinkin' you were on your-!"

With a swift backhand, we sent Cletus sprawling to the ground, not bothering to wait for the red-head to get back on his feet before we grabbed him by the throat and pinned him to the wall. Again, our teeth were bared, patience and sanity dwindling significantly. We stayed like that for a full minute, not saying a word as our razor teeth were mere millimeters from Kasady's nose. Although that didn't seem to deter him as it had last time, as if hearing of our true condition had gave him the impression that we were weaker and more vulnerable than he had guessed. "So…who's the daddy?"

With a blank, azure glare, we hissed as menacingly as we could as our threatened, and _unborn_, offspring churned within us (or rather within Ghost). Burns stayed behind us, frozen with fear as he probably saw the dark aura radiating off of us in waves.

We weren't prepared as Cletus Kasady plunged a knife into our shoulder.

Cletus wasn't prepared as we howled and chucked him against the opposite wall.

Mason Burns wasn't prepared as something separated from us and proceeded to launch itself at him.

The whole lot of us weren't prepared as a shrill alarm started blaring. As if it had _waited_ for all of us to be at our weakest.

* * *

The sensation we felt as we woke up can be best described as euphoric. Sure, we were in some pain from the alarm blaring, but even that seemed far away. We weren't even angry, or sad, or worried as we realized we were in a room, a storage room that contained a plethora of weapons and some scientific equipment that would very well end up being used against us. We felt no hurry to get far away from it all…well, not that we could, the sonic emitting bracers/cuffs on our arms made sure of that.

_It's like these people have all sorts of gadgets for dealing with symbiotes_

_**We seem to be on a bad luck streak**_

_Or perhaps these jerk-offs must be on a good luck streak_

_Or __**it's really both**_

_Yeah, that too_

Our eyes wandered to the bulky, dark blue and white figure that was bound right beside us. Vibes that were completely new to us confirming that he was not only a friendly, but much more than that.

He was our _progeny_.

_**Our child**_

_He looks so peace –wait, __**our**__ child? Don't you guys reproduce asexually?!_

_**We do, however, due to our permanent bond, and the stresses we have endured lately, my progeny may have also gained something from you as well**_

_Oh, _was my only reply. My cheeks tinged red at the idea that I was _technically_ a mommy. No more words were exchanged (just awkward silence) between me and my symbiote, as we had instead shifted our attention back onto the stirring form to our left. Blue eye patches that were a tad more squinty than our own became more focused as host and symbiote slowly, and surely, got out from their drowsy state.

"**W-what happened? W-where are we?" **the symbiotic pair had Mason Burns voice, but, it seemed to have a young _female_ undertone. There was a groan as the newly bonded pair grasped their head, **"UuuuuUUGHHH I feel like shit"**. Judging by the way they spoke, they hadn't reached that 'we' stage yet.

"_**We were jumped, again, while trying to find the others, and as for where we are exactly, we still don't know" **_we sighed _**"…and as for your whole 'feeling like shit' issue, don't worry, it will pass"**_

We sat some more in silence, studying the room for a few more moments before Mason 'coughed'.

"**So…you haven't found anyone else? And, if you don't mind me asking, just why were you helping that serial killer?"**

We downcast our eyes sheepishly _**"Information, that he would only give after we escaped here"**_

"**Ah, and I'm assuming you'd hand him over to the authorities **afterward**?"**

"_**We're the 'White Rabbit', not the 'White Weasel'" **_we huffed, crossing our arms, _offended_ at the sheer distrust in Mason's tone. Whatever was going to follow after (perhaps an apology) was shortly interrupted as the door to the storage room swung open. Men clad in light grey body armor and sonic weapons swiftly filtered into the room, making a grand old show as they encircled us with their weapons raised. The last three men to enter the room in all their dramatic glory being a scientist, some guy that looked very much like Hawk Eye (but was clearly not Hawk Eye, if the bulls-eye marking on his forehead was any indication), and a cuffed Cletus, the red-head snarling like an animal as he was deposited (thrown) onto the floor to our right.

"You're the White Rabbit, I presume?" the bald scientist (so very cliché, I know) asked in a snide tone, lecherous eyes running down our form. And while we had felt much better since finally giving 'birth', we still felt the strong impulse to skewer the beady-eyed jerk-wad in the lab coat. Avenger expectations be damned.

"_**No, we're the Easter Bunny, get it right Baldy" **_we replied mockingly, which was oh-so kindly answered by a brief sonic blast to the back.

"Now now, _Claire Somers_, that is no way to talk to your superior"

"_**Oh you're superior all right, a superior pain in my-" **_Ghost mentally scolded me for not keeping our mouth shut as we were jabbed with what felt like a hot poker. And so through the pain, we just barely acknowledged that we were addressed by my first -and _last_\- name.

"**How do you know…?" **Mason voiced our shock, the female undertone barely heard as he and his symbiote spoke in a whisper.

"A reliable source" the scientist supplied pompously.

I believe I have said before that me and my symbiote were not killers. But, we felt urges, not only because the man in front of us was a pretentious bald-bastard, but because he knew my identity and probably damn well knew my symbiote's name too. And because he announced it, everyone in the room (who wasn't myself and Burns) knew the White Rabbit's _name_.

_That guy just unwittingly signed his own death warrant_

_**And the death warrant of all the other men in the room…**_

"Hey Baldy" it was there, that the man with the bulls-eye mark decided to speak up, "I know we gotta keep the vigilante alive, but I don't recall the Doc sayin' anything about a third symbiote _and_ a serial killer"

"First off…" the scientist exhaled loudly through his nose "Do _not_ call me _Baldy_, secondly…" beady eyes studied a symbiote-covered Mason for a brief contemplative moment. "Whoever is beneath the symbiote has just about as much importance as the other experiments…"

"You mean the ones that died?" Bullseye snorted.

In a moment of righteous indignation, the scientist's chest puffed out almost to the point where it was comical. Too bad we were so stricken with sheer panic to appreciate it. "_Almost _all the experiments had died, there are still a few that show promise! _I_ am not completely incompetent!" there was another deep sigh "we keep him alive…for now" as a bony finger pointed to Mason, before then shifting over onto scowling Cletus. "As for him, he's too damn slippery, and he's already killed a handful of my men" the scientist glared over at Bullseye as if the whole deal was his fault, "Do what you must". That was all Bullseye needed to hear as he drew a heavy pistol and aimed it at the red-head.

"Any last words…?"

"Yeah, _eat me_ you _motherf_-"

We flinched upon hearing the firing of the bullet, along with seeing Cletus get blown off his feet and right into a cluttered lab table, which surprisingly enough looked like it had been used (from what we gathered from a couple of filled vials). However, what _really_ made us cringe was when the scientist was just about shrieking.

"No, I didn't mean _here_ you _idiot_!" the bald man grasped his head in total exasperation, where he then went about ranting, and Bullseye listened on with great disinterest. We ignored the screeching monkey that was the scientist too, but it was not out of disinterest. Instead, we were too focused on the shaking and coughing serial killer propped up against the lab table, a string of black ooze eagerly working its way toward the open bullet wound, a shattered vial not far behind it. Mason, interested in seeing the object of our abject terror, turned his symbiote covered eyes to see Cletus cursing and convulsing. The guards not paying any heed to the red-head as they instead either had their attention on us or the hilarious sputtering of the scientist.

_**Claire…it's happening…**_

_I-I know, just lemme think!_

We tried phasing, despite sound-based weapons and devices being our greatest obstacle. _**"Come on, come on!" **_we hissed loudly, trying again and again, only succeeding in nudging Mason harshly with our elbow every other second. Pausing suddenly upon realizing that our ticket out was sitting right beside us.

_**By Klyntar biology…**_

…_the offspring are stronger than their predecessors! _

"_**Mason!" **_we hissed under our breath, snapping him out of whatever plan he was mustering up. _**"Try talking to your Other!"**_

"**My **what**?!"**

"_**We know this is all so new to you, but try!" **_

Only one guard seemed to pay attention to us, but he held a very bored expression.

With a long draw of breath, Mason looked down at his knees, wincing at the deep blue symbiotic flesh that covered them, and closed his blue symbiote eyes in deep thought.

Precious seconds passed as the scientists' screeching finally died down in conjunction with Cletus's shouts of surprise as an all-too-familiar red substance slowly covered him. Bullseye, not at all amused that his kill seemingly came back from the dead, drew his pistol back out and fired mercilessly at his target. The guards around us making the mistake of drawing all their attention on Cletus, none of them taking note of Mason's glowing blue eye patches as various objects in the storage room began to levitate. Our progeny, and his/her host taking a deep breath as all the levitating objects were then launched into all the guards, the scientist, and a retreating Bullseye (who may have muttered something like '_they don't pay me enough for this shit_'). With much effort, we stretched a thin snake-like 'wing-claw' to retrieve what appeared to be a remote as it fell from the scientist's hand, pressing the button with great gusto as the magnetic locks on the sonic-bracers then clicked. As the offending restraints fell to the floor, we took that time to rub our forearms, Mason doing the same beside us.

"_**Not bad kiddo"**_

"**Who you calling kiddo, I'm significantly older than you are!"**

"_**We were talking to the symbiote"**_

"**Whatever, let's just go find the others-"**

"**Ey!"**

We whirled around in time to see Cletus, covered in red symbiotic flesh, toss a dead guard to the side. The little voice at the back of my head (that was not Ghost) screaming at the top of her lungs.

"**You two gonna leave so soon?! The party just got started!"**

Carnage was here.

* * *

**buh buh BUHM! okay, I'll stop spazzing now. **

**SO what did y'all think? I figured that since this was AU, I'd introduce characters differently. **

**And because you may, or may not, have noticed, I 'changed' Ghost's eye color from white to blue. Not really relevant to plot points and what not, just thought I'd throw it out there XD.**

**And symbiotes with telekinetic abilities?! Will my madness ever end?! *takes deep breather* okay, I'm better now. Stay tuned for the next installment! What will happen with our heroes?! Will they be able to handle Carnage of all symbiotes?! Will they find the Marx brothers and Venom in time? And just where did Bullseye run off to?**

**And most important of all (maybe): What shall the name for Ghosts' offspring be?! (I already have one in mind, I'm just saying that for dramatic effect XD because I'm a weirdo)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Dear God, I am profusely sorry for such a long wait! **

**Normally I'd just go on with the story, but I'm going to make good use of this space to say this: **

**I am not giving up on this story. I know it may seem like I'm losing steam with the long waits, but I can assure you, my stories are all I think about as I'm trying to work up to writing chapters. I really can't say I have an adequate excuse, but I do have work and I get super distracted...and sometimes my motivation likes to play hide-n-seek and it pisses me off. **

**Anyway, I'd also like to make a few pointers for the story:**

**I am indeed making Ghost's eye color change from white to blue an actual plot thing, and I was sure to write it in as cleverly as I can possible manage. And as for you romantic types, I don't really have a pairing in mind, but Claire and Ghost can get pretty flirty so we'll wait and see. As for the name of Ghost's offspring, I'll be putting that off for a chapter or two...**

**Now on with the story! (Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, Spider-Man, and all that other jazz. I only own my OC's.)**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Order and Chaos**

_**Recap:**_

_Precious seconds passed as the scientists' screeching finally died down in conjunction with Cletus's shouts of surprise as an all-too-familiar red substance slowly covered him. Bullseye, not at all amused that his kill seemingly came back from the dead, drew his pistol back out and fired mercilessly at his target. The guards around us making the mistake of drawing all their attention on Cletus, none of them taking note of Mason's glowing blue eye patches as various objects in the storage room began to levitate. Our progeny, and his/her host taking a deep breath as all the levitating objects were then launched into all the guards, the scientist, and a retreating Bullseye (who may have muttered something like 'they don't pay me enough for this shit'). With much effort, we stretched a thin snake-like 'wing-claw' to retrieve what appeared to be a remote as it fell from the scientist's hand, pressing the button with great gusto as the magnetic locks on the sonic-bracers then clicked. As the offending restraints fell to the floor, we took that time to rub our forearms, Mason doing the same beside us._

_"**Not bad kiddo"**_

_"**Who you calling kiddo, I'm significantly older than you are!"**_

_"**We were talking to the symbiote"**_

_"**Whatever, let's just go find the others-"**_

_"**Ey!"**_

_We whirled around in time to see Cletus, covered in red symbiotic flesh, toss a dead guard to the side. The little voice at the back of my head (that was not Ghost) screaming at the top of her lungs._

_"**You two gonna leave so soon?! The party just got started!"**_

_Carnage was here._

* * *

We stood in dumbfounded silence, cursing ourselves and our rotten luck streak. I mean sure, there are things that happen that are completely out of our control, no biggie. But the real kicker was that we could have _easily_ prevented the mess that reared its ugly red-head…its ugly red-head that was so _lovingly_ taunting us.

"**Ey now, why so shy?" **Carnage jeered, brandishing his pair of symbiotic axes **"Is it because I now got me one of them 'sym-bi-ote' thingies…?"**. Enormous white patches landed on us, a malicious grin growing wider as they did so, **"Aww, that's it ain't it? And 'ere I was thinkin' that you'd like a **_**playmate**_**-!"**. We cursed loudly, phasing just in time for Carnage to lunge through and right into the stack of packaged weapons behind us.

_**Damn he's quick!**_

_Right?! As if fighting Venom wasn't hard enough!_

We spun around just in time to see the red symbiote erupt out from the pile, almost as if he were a child playing in snow. And the grin he was wearing certainly showed it. **"Wow! Not even a scratch! I'm almost not mad at you fer pullin' that chickenshit stunt-!" **this time we (including Mason) were ready as our shield-like appendages sprouted out of our back in fluid grace, easily intercepting Carnage's newly formed scythes. With a loud grunt, we used momentum to launch Carnage across the room, while Mason took that as his cue to join in by propelling several large metal benches in his direction. The benches, of course, didn't really succeed in pinning the slippery red bastard, but, they were distracting enough so we could charge him.

Mason was first, striking with elongated claws and levitating swords (yes, they seriously kept swords in here), taking the brunt of the damage from the madman's assault. Though it seemed like they were evenly matched as they parried and threw taunts, Carnage gained the upper-hand by first making a lewd comment and then brutally kicking the newly bonded pair to the side. Leaving him open for a barrage from our trusty forearm projectiles, which he did block, but our current partner proved that he wasn't going to be a slacker on his end and assaulted Carnage with even more levitating swords than he had before.

"**Would'ya two quit throwin' shit!" **

_**Someone's getting frustrated**_

_Indeed, is he _seriously _going to _throw_ that table at us even though-eep! _We phased through the table, snarling at a snickering Carnage and Mason. Both of whom resumed fighting with claws, Carnage beating back Mason with a surprise mallet. Being that it was our turn to strike (again), our shields swiftly morphed into vicious claws as they swiped at the laughing little red turd in front of us. Sure, not that we did much damage, but it was enough of (surprise-surprise) an opening for Mason to come in all his telekinetic glory and pin the bastard with a beautiful assortment of all the damn heaviest objects in the _whole room_. We honestly cried (mostly Ghost) with how wonderfully our baby seemed to work with her host, though for the sake of the fight that surely determined the very safety of New York (and the whole world, in general) we had to suck it in and keep focused. Even though we saw nothing of Carnage except a twitching hand, we had to keep on guard. Even if it all seemed a little anti-climactic that someone as tough Venom's first-born would be subdued in one go. So, we took tentative steps forward, examining the 'cage'. It looked very sturdy, as if it wasn't going to get trashed at any second.

"_**Good work Burns"**_

"**Yeah, no kidding, I seem to be the only one doing so"** Mason huffed. It would have been funny, but there was something about his _tone_.

Finding ourselves to be particularly irate that day, we turned on the ball of our foot, away from the creaking and scraping, eager to show our displeasure with the older man's tone. And because we wanted to show just how irritated we _both_ were, my Other retracted the symbiotic mask from my face. So now Mason was staring into my un-amused glare, and Ghost's hurt one. **"That tone speaks volumes Mason, what is bothering you?" **Ghost's blue (I remember the 'lenses' somehow changing from white to blue before Cletus stabbed us) patches-for-eyes glistened with worry.

There was more creaking, we continued to ignore it.

"**Where to begin…" **there was a pause, then blue symbiotic flesh retracted from the older man's face, revealing _his_ displeased expression. "Well for starters, we got ambushed, beaten, and tortured…" Mason's frown deepened "Those two boys, which by the way are good friends of mine, could very well be dead…", he took a few steps closer, as close as he could get before invading our personal space "I catch you two working with that…that _sick son-of-a-bitch_". He spat, pointing a blue claw towards Carnage, or rather his twitching appendage.

Now, it was my turn to frown. "I already said why-"

"It doesn't matter! You should know damn well that whatever he knows, he's not going to share –or maybe he's outright lying to you, because you know, he's a criminal!"

I wanted to say more, but I found that my mouth was wired shut. And that Ghost told me through our mental bond to hear him out, although he seemed to be a little anxious too. So we continued to stand there waiting for Mason to finish venting out his anger. Because the last thing we wanted was for his anger to escalate, especially when he had a newborn symbiote. And here's a fact, newborn symbiotes are susceptible to raw, negative emotions. Yikes.

"How long" Mason suddenly blurts out, after taking a deep inhale and exhale.

"**How long…?" **Ghost parrots cautiously.

"Have you been expecting?"

We took a mental note that there wasn't any more noise coming from underneath the pile.

"**I was made aware months ago…I, I still had a few days till she was due, but…"**

"But then today happened" I mumbled.

Mason groaned loudly. "And you two didn't even bother contacting Dr. Mitchell? You know she specializes in..._this stuff_, right?" he stared and gestured to his whole body, the dark blue material covering him almost squirming from his scrutiny.

"**Are you unhappy with your bond?" **Klyntar teeth were bared, not menacingly, but to display Ghost's disappointment. It was all _I _could do to not gape at the man's blatant ingratitude.

"I'm _unhappy_ that it has happened so soon, yes" Burns sighed "And in a situation where separation could mean death, for _both_ of us"

Ghost hummed thoughtfully, **"You seem to be aware of our spawn's frailty"**

"Yeah, quite" Mason replied gruffly, "It would be a dick move if abandoned a baby, not matter what species". I relaxed upon seeing that he has calmed down significantly, if the small smirk on his face was any indication. And since that issue was resolved, it was time to focus on our _other _problem.

"Now that that's settled, any ideas on we should do with him" I jabbed a thumb in Carnage's direction, the little red snot was being alarmingly quiet, and me and my Other didn't want to waste anymore time standing around, not when we still had to find the Marx brothers and Venom.

Dark blue symbiote tissue stretched back over on Mason's gruff features. **"I believe that's your call to make, **_**Mommy**_**" **both man _and_ symbiote were definitely behind that remark, but we bit our tongue in favor of giving Carnage our full attention.

_**We can't leave him, obviously**_

_But we don't really have anything to restrain him if we bring him along –wait! _My eyes darted to the deactivated sonic cuffs and remote. "Mason, you want to grab those cuffs and remote?"

"**It would be our pleasure" **

Focusing back on Carnage, we noticed something particularly odd. Sure he made a bit of noise, but his hand was still in the same exact place…and that upon closer examination under the pile, we couldn't really find the arm it was attached to. _What the hell? _It was then, that we could practically _feel_ someone's breath on our shoulder.

"**What'cha lookin' for, **_**sweetcheeks**_**?" **

It was all Ghost could do to keep my exposed head from being bashed in against a steel cabinet. My white and black symbiote covered my head almost instantaneously as we spun around to a grinning Carnage, not at all fazed by his effort of trying to inflict excessive head damage. However, he _did_ have better luck lunging at and sinking his claws into us, before forcibly kissing (which almost felt like he was trying to eat our face, and that's not something I'd really put past him either) and throwing our flailing form at Mason. And because there was actually an energy limit to our phasing, we knocked an unsuspecting Mason to the floor. Carnage laughed at the pitiful crumpled heap that was us.

"**This was fun kiddos, but I got places to be, people to terrorize!" **

"**Oh no, you don't!" **Burns attempts to pin the madman with more debris, but Carnage jumps and scales the wall effortlessly, dodging all his attacks before _morphing_ into a _puddle_ and escaping through a vent.

_Oh shit, I almost forgot he could do that!_

"**C-can all symbiotes do that?!" **

"_**Just the ones that are fully bonded"**_

"**But they just-" **

We cut him off with a gesture, pulling out the key-card and then shoving it in his hand. _**"We don't know if you have the phasing ability yet, but you should take this just in case"**_, we didn't leave any room for argument as we grabbed another key from the _deceased_ scientist (God rest his soul, _not_) and hastily pointed a finger at the door. _**"You two go find the others, we'll handle Carnage"**_

"**You do know I have more tactical experience and the stronger symbiote right?"**

"_**You do know that your Other is my child right? And that you two are freshly bonded…" **_we were already over on the vent, preparing to chase after the red-clad madman, _**"We just need a quick breather before we can start phasing again, and we'll be very careful until then"**_

Whatever Mason was going to say after, we were already in the vent.

* * *

_**I remember the last time we were in puddle form, it was rather fun, I wonder why we don't do it more often **_

_Because of the strain it puts on my body?_

_**Oh yeah, sorry**_

We were currently in such straining form, pursuing Carnage through the ventilation system. It wasn't so hard to get a fix on his location; we just had to follow the screams and gunfire. After a few lefts here, and a couple rights there, we dripped though the duct stealthily, solidifying as we reached the ground and trying so hard not to look at the mutilated bodies around us. Even if they did threaten our lives at some point, we still couldn't bear to look into their empty eyes, so we kept focused on the corridor in front of us. Upon hearing another scream, we entered a dead sprint, reaching the source just in time to see Carnage dispose of a guard. Figuring that the stress on our body has eased up enough to make phasing possible again, we muffled our footsteps and advanced on him. Once close enough and with our wing-claws ready for action, we sprung.

"_**OOMF!"**_

Too bad that a whole lot of red tendrils kept us from even scratching the smug bastard, the vicious things tightening around us to the point where we had difficulty breathing. It was almost as if he had eyes in the back of his head.

"**Cool ain't it?! It's like I have eyes in the back of my head!"**

_Oh, that's right, I forgot about this little detail too –damn, sometimes this universe does hate us_

_**It's okay, it's not like you can remember every single detail about this yahoo**_

_Yeah, but still, I feel pretty stupid_

"**I see ya chased me, yer too cute-!"**

Thankful that we _have recovered_ enough to start phasing again, we took a deep breath and used such special ability to escape Carnage's tendrils. An action that surely ticked him off one too many times as his grin disappeared and his eyes narrowed. **"There it is again, how the hell do you keep doin' that?!"**

"_**Well, it was either 'that' or get groped by a bloodied tampon with feet"**_

Carnage's eye twitched, and a mere second after that, it was all we could do to keep the 'bloodied tampon' from forcibly ripping each and every bit of my Other off of me. I mean sure, we may have asked for it when we addressed our short-fused opponent as something so…gross. But we couldn't help that our mouth would spout the most obscene things when under pressure. Obscene things that got us into dangerous situations, like fighting a much stronger adversary close quarters. With a yelp, we phased through Carnage's claws (which pissed him off even more) and bounded down the hallway, desperate to find an area with more space. And perhaps more guards, anything to get the heat off.

* * *

"_**You're awfully quiet-"**_ we nearly tripped as we barreled down another unfamiliar hallway, doing our ample best to avoid Carnage's scythes and needle-projectiles. _**"Perhaps we were too obscene to your liking?" **_a freaking _claymore_ sword soared over our head, finding a new home in the chest of some random guard as he and the rest of his squad rounded the corner. We didn't pay any more attention to him though, and neither did Carnage as he continued to chase us through what appeared to be a mess hall.

"**Disrespectful little shit, get yer ass back 'ere so I can slice it up and eat it fer breakfast!"**

"_**Oh hey, sounds like you're cheering up –erk!" **_a red tendril snagged our throat, and by reflex, we phased. However, that proved to be a predicted move when _as soon as_ we became tangible again, we were tackled by a snarling Carnage. He tried to pin us, but we kicked him off, the both of us exchanging a few blows before he got a good kick in that sent us across the room. Sputtering curses and holding our gut, we stood begrudgingly back on our feet, not quite wanting to leave the ground in a hurry.

_**Claire**_

_Man if I were to take a shot every time you said my name…_

_**I have an idea**_

_Oh, _I mentally scolded myself for being so moody; _sorry…I'm all ears Big Man_. We got low, poised to strike. Carnage grinned, doing the same.

_**The whole time we've been chased by Carnage, I noticed all the guards joining in too**_

Upon a brief examination of the room, we were surprised to see _groups _of guards just standing in random points of the dilapidated mess hall. They all looked torn between _wanting_ to shoot us, and (really) _not _wanting to shoot us for the likely reason that they didn't want to provoke two symbiotes. It was a funny sight, I can tell you.

_**We should use their weapons**_

Something clicked, so with a grin, we charged the nearest guard. With a swift foot to the face before the man could pull the trigger of the obnoxious weapon, we nabbed it just as it left his hands. Flying up to avoid the assault of sonic waves coming from four other guards, we then latched onto the ceiling and proceeded to leap around, disarming guards with our projectiles and blasting Carnage with the sonic rays (making sure the weapon was on its highest setting). For once, my Other took all the credit for an absolutely brilliant freaking idea. If I didn't love the little marshmallow so much I would have been jealous.

"_**You get a needle to the knee, and YOU get a needle to the knee…" **_as we continued incapacitating guards, Carnage took it upon himself to kill a few while we were distracted. _**"And YOU can just butt out!" **_and that wasn't really something we condoned, even if the men were a threat to us too. So with a hip shot with the sonic emitter, we knocked the little red bugger on the ground, giving the remaining guards a chance to retreat. And whether or not there was actually some debate, _all _of them ran out wordlessly. Some even spared a grateful look over their shoulders as they escaped. We may have been vigilantes, but something was mighty satisfying about letting those guys go.

"**You really are one big softie" **Carnage growled, getting on his feet **"I really can't wait to cut ya open and-"**. We didn't wait; we blasted him again with the lethal weapon, making him cringe and howl. As he fell on his knees, we walked over swiftly to a dead guard (who may have been a higher-ranking individual), fishing around briefly before pulling out a thing of sonic bracers and a remote.

_**Things seem to be looking up-**_

We delivered a few more blasts as Carnage attacked, knocking him out cold this time. _I love ya, I really do, but can we save the victory speech until after we're done?_

_**Okay**_

* * *

Hauling Carnage around and being stealthy was a feat in of itself, however, we still managed to find what passed as a surveillance room with little trouble and disabled whatever we could. And by disabled, I mean trashing the place. Sure there wasn't much in the way of security where we were (because from what we've seen, whoever captured us surely retrofitted an old -and by old I mean _ancient_\- bunker with modern tech in a hurry), but it wasn't something we wanted to risk.

_Now we just need to regroup with Mason, damn, we should have taken a walkie-talkie or something!_

_**Claire…**_

_God, I've really been on a stupid spree now haven't I? _

_**Claire…**_

_Haven't made a single good decision since yesterday morning…or was it the day before?_

_**CLAIRE**_

We (I) jumped, dropping Cletus. I didn't pay much attention to when the unconscious serial killer landed on his face; because I was too busy being shocked by Ghost's outburst.

_**Are you done?**_

I felt my cheeks burn, _y-yeah, I'm done_

_**I know how to find Mason, just…relax**_

As soon as I did, I felt…something. The same feeling we got before we got jumped by Venom. The same feeling we got once we spawned Ghost's child. The same feeling we got once Cletus became Carnage. And boy, did I _really_ feel stupid.

_**Do you feel them?**_

_Yeah, and the bloodied dead-weight on our shoulders…and –wait, that's odd, who could that be?!_

_**You mean the third presence? Only one way to find out**_

I nodded, following the buzzing in my brain.

* * *

Our guess was that Venom found someone. Or that someone found Venom. Either way, saved us the trouble of finding him as we stepped into a large circular room, Mason at the center with his back to a cluster of computers.

"**Someone's late to the party"**

"_**Pffft, what party" **_we jerked our head around the room, exaggerating surprise _**"there's no one here"**_. We ambled closer, shifting an unconscious Carnage on our shoulders, _**"On a serious note, where did everybody go? We were expecting an epic fight and a chance to uncover much needed secrets"**_

"**Well unfortunately, things are currently that simple" **a black shadow with white eyes and a toothy grin stretched out of the actual shadows. We would have jumped, if we hadn't sensed him already. **"This room was already empty when we arrived" **

"**My guess is that shit went south for our captors, so they packed what they could and hauled ass"**

We sighed, both relieved that we didn't have to fight our way out and disappointed that all the information we needed was probably in some shady guy's (or lady's) briefcase, in some chopper headed toward the Canada border or some shit.

"White Rabbit?" a soft male voice echoed from beside us. We turned to find happy, and tired, blue eyes gazing evenly at us. It was Wyatt, and as much as we wanted to hug the little cinnamon roll, we couldn't just yet.

"_**Hey fanboy, how are you holding up?"**_

"A little roughed up, but otherwise fine…ma'am" happy blues suddenly turned cautious as they looked upward at our cargo. "If you don't mind me asking, _what _are you holding up?"

Venom also looked curious, more so than Wyatt. So while we addressed the young lad in front of us, we stared at the large black symbiote across the room (who looked…leaner?). _**"There was an accident, involving a maximum security inmate and a vial of Venom's substance"**_

"…**dear God…" **White patches for eyes broadened.

"Did you see any more inmates? All the ones we found were…" Wyatt covered his mouth, clearly resisting the urge to vomit.

"_**No…we did not…Mason?" **_we really wanted to change the subject _**"were you able to salvage anything from the computers?"**_

"**Some" **he held up a damaged external drive, **"Nothing a little magic from SHIELD's tech staff can't fix"**

"_**Nice…now just one question remains…" **_our blue eyes scanned the room briefly before landing on Venom and narrowing. _**"Where the hell is Ryan"**_

The black symbiote looked particularly guilty, **"We made a deal with your progeny…"**

We looked over to Mason to see him scratching the back of his head.

"**Help, for freedom. The one you call 'Ryan' volunteered"**

Our eyes narrowed skeptically, so we turned to Wyatt, the younger Marx brother giving a weak shrug, looking completely out of it. Of course after the shit-show that just played out, we were all a little out of it.

"_**We're going to assume you have contacted SHIELD, and they're swarming in as we speak"**_

"**Yes ma'am" **Mason knew full well he outranked us, smart-ass.

"So what happens now?"

Comically, all eyes gravitated towards Venom. With a rather goofy and sheepish grin, the black symbiote detached himself from Ryan Marx in a natural fluid movement, escaping through a vent before any of us could react properly. Thankfully Ryan seemed unharmed, blinking away his drowsiness, that drowsiness evaporating as soon as Mason cursed loudly.

"**Aw, damn it!"**

"_**Forget him; he's a sweetheart compared to this guy" **_we jostled the red symbiote on our shoulders.

Both the Marx brothers could only stare in confusion as the remaining symbiotes in the room burst out laughing.

* * *

"Claire" Mason was now in a formal suit, looking quite snappy as he jogged up beside us on our way out of the SHIELD owned compound. He also looked quite guilty, and we both knew why.

"You want to separate don't you?"

An hour or so earlier, Mason kept quiet during our conference with Coulson, Mitchell, Jones, and a few other staff. No Fury, but it was probably for the better. The whole meeting was awkward, so one can understand why Mason didn't drop the bombshell that he was bonded to our offspring. We thought at first that his silence was to protect her, so he could _keep_ her. We were half-right, to say the least.

"It's not safe for her here, not when we could have a potential mole. Despite what you two may think of me, I don't do things for myself, not all the time. Please…" the dark blue 'fabric' hesitantly stretched out, revealing the actual black fabric of a real tailored suit underneath. There was no surveillance where we were standing, so our progeny could take her sweet time separating from Mason Burns. When it was done, Mason stood there wobbling, but was otherwise stable. With a nod, we turned and walked off, the young blue symbiote wrapping herself over my flesh but beneath Ghost's, making it appear as if I was wearing a blue layer underneath. As we walked through the door, a large hand stopped us.

"For what it's worth, I really am sorry. And…I hope she finds someone"

We gazed at the grey eyes of the older man behind us, smiling a little at how much softer they were.

* * *

"Home. Sweet. Freakin'. Home~!" I just about sung as I plopped down onto my couch, drained from all that had happened over the last day and a half. "Ah, but ya know what would make home even sweeter?" I grinned and skipped over to the cabinet, grabbing a thing of chocolate cake mix, "Chocolate cake!". As if on auto-pilot, I flitted about the kitchen, grabbing ingredients and pulling out kitchenware.

_**I was going to suggest a shower and nap, but who am I to refuse chocolate?**_

I hummed in agreement, shuffling over to the TV remote and pressing the big red button in the top right corner. I didn't even get to enter the kitchen before the news started blaring, filling the room with the obnoxious voice of a female reporter and making our poor baby screech.

**: "This just in, we are getting reports from witnesses saying that they have spotted Venom in upper Manhattan-":**

And as soon as it had come on, the TV shut off. I gave an agitated sigh, ambling toward the kitchen to put away the mix and the rest of the ingredients. _You know what, a shower and a nap sound really good_

_**But the chocolate cake…, **_both my Other and his spawn stared at me with big puppy Klyntar eyes. With a groan, I pulled back out all the stuff.

* * *

One chocolate cake and a shower later, we were all comfy in bed and looking on my phone. Spider-Man had really pulled a lot of weight while we were gone, anywhere from small crimes to having a run-in with Shocker. I frowned at one particular head-line bad-mouthing us because of our absence.

_Gee, no one cares about what we do till we don't do it_

_**We will make up for it tomorrow, don't beat yourself up-**_

Before I could reply, my phone buzzed with a message. Frown gone, I pulled up the message and read the text, unsure of whom it had come from.

_:Hey Stranger, ;): _

_**Hmmmm, **_**my **_**curiosity is piqued**_

_Calm down hound dog, could just be some creep that got a hold of my number, _a white blob with blue eyes peeked out over my right shoulder, while a little blue blob with the same color eyes peeked out over my left.

_:Uhm…hello, who is this?:_

Seconds ticked on by.

_:Oh, sorry about that! I can't help myself sometimes: _another second ticked by, _:remember the art gallery?:_

_Buffering…_

"**The white-haired girl!" **Ghost wriggled in delight. That's right; I had a promise to keep.

_:Oh yeah! I'm sorry, thought you were a creeper:_

…

_:I have my moments:_

More typing, I had to be careful not to use 'we'.

_:I did like talking to you, but I never asked your name:_

As if for dramatic effect, there was a twenty second pause.

_:You can call me Felicia ;):_

_This girl has a name that sounds awfully –wait. Oh my god! _

"**Another one?!"**

"Yep!"

_:I had a feeling it would something girly, but badass. So…how did you get my number? Just curious:_

…

_:The gallery's website:_

"**Dope" **

"Shush"

There was a giggle from our little blue bundle.

_:Neat-O. Hey, if you don't mind me being presumptive, did you contact me because you want to hang out?:_

"**What about-"**

"I'm working on it, shush"

_:…maybe…:_

"We'll be moving too fast if we go on an actual date, I was thinking that we could just hang out as if we were on a date"

Ghost hummed, then nodded, pleased.

_:How does tomorrow at 3 sound?: _I linked a Google Maps location with the text, and then waited.

Thirty grueling seconds passed before a reply came.

_:Sounds good, I'll see you then ;):_

"**She really likes the winky-face"**

I burst out laughing.

* * *

**And there ya go ;) hope you enjoyed. I'll try to update sooner!**

**Stay beautiful.**


	7. Chapter 7

**If I had to give you guys a dollar for every time I apologized what do you think you'd be able to buy? ANYWAY, here's chapter 6 or technically 7 including the Prologue. Please do enjoy while I work on my other fics :3**

**I know I rated this story T, but I feel I should warn you of the dropping of the f-bomb just in case. **

**I do NOT own Marvel, Spider-Man,etc etc. I only own my OC's and head-canon. **

**Stay Beautiful.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun...And A Little Mayhem**

_**Recap:**_

_"**The white-haired girl!" **Ghost wriggled in delight. That's right; I had a promise to keep._

_:Oh yeah! I'm sorry, thought you were a creeper:_

_…_

_:I have my moments:_

_More typing, I had to be careful not to use 'we'._

_:I did like talking to you, but I never asked your name:_

_As if for dramatic effect, there was a twenty second pause._

_:You can call me Felicia ;):_

_This girl has a name that sounds awfully –wait. Oh my god!_

_"**Another one?!"**_

_"Yep!"_

_:I had a feeling it would something girly, but badass. So…how did you get my number? Just curious:_

_…_

_:The gallery's website:_

_"**Dope"**_

_"Shush"_

_There was a giggle from our little blue bundle._

_:Neat-O. Hey, if you don't mind me being presumptive, did you contact me because you want to hang out?:_

_"**What about-"**_

_"I'm working on it, shush"_

_:…maybe…:_

_"We'll be moving too fast if we go on an actual date, I was thinking that we could just hang out as if we were on a date"_

_Ghost hummed, then nodded, pleased._

_:How does tomorrow at 3 sound?: I linked a Google Maps location with the text, and then waited._

_Thirty grueling seconds passed before a reply came._

_:Sounds good, I'll see you then ;):_

_"**She really likes the winky-face"**_

_I burst out laughing._

* * *

_**Claire…**_

I shifted irritably under the sheets and blankets, ignoring the soft but deep voice calling my name in favor of falling back asleep.

_**Claire…**_

"Mmmmrmmm, no go away" I buried my face into the pillow, pressing it's plushy sides against each side of my head as if _that_ would actually deter the 'voice' from nagging me.

_**Claire…**_

"No"

_**Yes**_

I still have not yet acknowledged just where and from whom the voice was coming, so I persisted in trying to sleep some more. And of course, as one would guess, that was a bad idea.

"_**Claire!" **_

"Aiiyeee!" I flew out from under the covers, my mind not quite in sync with my body as I easily wrapped myself up in a cocoon like fashion and landed with a hard thud on the floor. Groaning, I rolled around for maybe a full minute before the culprit that disrupted my beautiful slumber snaked around into view. His teeth bared in a big grin that only his species in particular were known for. **"Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty"**

With a childish pout, I flipped him off. That only made him grin wider. **"Oh hey now, that's not very nice. You should be thanking me"** Ghost snickered, proceeding to help free me from my 'cocoon'. While he did so, I was racking my brain trying to find the reason as to why I should have been grateful for him just about screeching in my ear for me to wake up. After sitting there dumbly for a full thirty seconds, roughly around the same time I was freed from the sheets and blankets, I remembered. With a yelp that was a mix of both exasperation and guilt I ran to the bathroom and started the shower.

"**You feel like a terrible person now don't you?"**

"Shush" I stripped free from my undergarments as the shower warmed up, hopping in as soon as it did so. "What time is it?" as I asked this, my other little 'passenger' made herself known. Curious blue patches for eyes squinted as water splashed against them, the younger Klyntar almost instantly enjoying the sensation as she began to wriggle and splash water around playfully.

It took Ghost a few moments to answer what I had asked as he relishes the sight of his progeny's happiness. **"It's only 9:20 a.m. I just wanted to wake you bright and early so we can have a chance to get ready and perhaps show the little one around the city"**

I grunted in approval. "Fair enough" after applying the conditioner, I then grabbed the soap. As I went about lathering myself with the white bar, I noticed that my little blue bundle of joy had stopped playing with the water flow and was now staring at me with bemusement. Her blobby head tilted to one side as she studied me. _What's that look for? _I asked more to myself, but due to our bond, Ghost heard it too. The white Klyntar shifted his focus to his progeny, and then to me. Almost too abruptly, he laughed.

"**She's studying your form because your physiology differs from Mason"**

"Ah" I blushed, suddenly shy of being in my birthday suit as I looked away from Ghost and the little blue Klyntar beside him. "Makes sense, newborn symbiotes are as curious as kittens aren't they?" I reached over and pat Ghost's offspring.

"**Indeed they are"**

"Well then, it's only a matter of time before she asks about the birds and the bees" I replied cheekily, earning a chuckle from my Other.

"**I'd give it a week-" **my symbiote grunts suddenly, whipping his head over to face our passenger as she started to act strangely. Unnerved by her movements, I immediately turned off the water with the assumption that the heat was actually beginning to bother her. Alas, it seemed to not help at all as the little blue symbiote continued to make jerking movements as if she was trying to detach herself. _Now why in the hell-? _I looked over to see that Ghost was just as perturbed as I was. Both of us were too shocked to move as the product of our bond finally detached herself and landed with a 'splotch' onto the floor of the shower. Still too dumbfounded to move, we continued to watch as the blue symbiote's form began to shift with fluid swiftness.

"What are -_Aiyee!_" I jumped backward and slipped, Ghost thankfully having stellar reaction time as he cushioned my fall with our symbiotic wings. My mouth fixed in an expression of awe and fright as I saw just what -or who- our progeny has become.

"Hi Mommy!" the spitting image of myself waved, grin almost as wide as a Klyntar's.

Now, I have been through some shit. But this was nearly too much.

"Ghost…" I gazed over at the white blob who appeared less frightened and more impressed. "Any ideas?" I turned my focus back onto our 'little blue bundle', whom of which was no longer very little or blue anymore. The symbiote in disguise still grinning as she turned her attention onto the rest of the bathroom, all too eagerly going about picking everything up and studying it.

"**I thought at first that perhaps she hadn't inherited so much of your genetic material and thus would require a host like your typical symbiote. However…"** Ghost murmured, pausing only to watch our progeny play with the sink. **"She may have gained significantly more"**

"Enough to take human form? And how long do you suppose she's going to be able to maintain it?" I asked, watching as she moved on from the sink and out into the living room. I wasn't worried, we often drew the curtains together because we hated peeping toms. And I will tell you, there were _too _many of those in the borough of Manhattan.

I sighed. _As long as she stays in our apartment room, we should be okay, _I picked myself up off of the symbiotic cushions, wrapping myself in a towel as I came out into the living room. Still naked, our bond-child made herself comfy sitting cross-legged on the floor as she looked through one of my sketchbooks.

"**Hmmm…" **Ghost clicked his tongue, then eyed me teasingly. **"**I **know, but I want to hear it from **you**. Test your symbiote knowledge"**

With a deep breath, I recalled the snippets of info I got from the meetings that took place in Dr. Mitchell's house during our childhood years and the tests we had in one of SHIELD's many compounds. I also recollected some fanfiction from my previous life. Confident with what I could remember, I voiced my speculations out loud. "Symbiotes can regenerate the tissues of their host, ensuring longevity and good health. Given the amount and what kind of genetic material they have access to, they can adopt a form for an x-amount of time provided they find themselves separated from their host…" I looked back over to see the mirror image playfully strut over to the kitchen and help herself to a thing of orange juice. "Symbiotes can and often reproduce asexually, but-" I stopped myself, eyes going wide as I had an epiphany. Ghost saw this, I could tell when he gave me a satisfied nod. "What if she was given enough so that she'd have a lot more than just my memories and appearance, she could very well be a balanced fusion of both of us. And by balanced I mean…"

"A hybrid" Ghost finished.

"Yeah…" I walked into the bedroom, plucking out articles of clothing and slipping them on with little focus. Sure I could have had Ghost morph into something but we preferred to wear actual clothes during the day, reserving such an ability for the 'night life'. "That" walking back out, we found our bond-child munching greedily on a slice of white bread. Once she looked up and saw us, she grinned again, scarfing down the last of the bread.

"Ooo, ooo! Are we going somewhere?!" the torso and the legs of her naked form rippled, changing color and shape as 'clothes' appeared. "I'm coming with!" bounding over ecstatically, she zoomed right by us and toward the door. Not even glancing at us, she yanked the door open and left it open in her rush.

With combined groans we followed after our 'daughter', sure to properly close the door behind us.

* * *

It was 1 p.m and things hadn't gotten any less hectic. Lets just say, I was glad I didn't have anything on my work schedule for that day because the four hours that had passed so far almost felt like a whole day. Every person, every building, every animal, and every object _had _to be picked up and examined by curious eyes. Any people our bond-child approached either thought she was adorable, annoying, or suspicious. Especially with the police. We had to pull her away from several cops because they had their _hands_ on their _guns_. Woo boy, that was real fun. The only times where we could somewhat relax were when she was stroking a stray cat, dog, pigeon, or even a rat. Okay maybe not so much for the rats, we'd immediately need to find the nearest sink to thoroughly wash her hands whenever she handled one of the little buggers.

Thankfully, she seemed to slow down to a reasonable pace once she felt satisfied with the amount of information she had gathered in that time. "This place is so big and crowded, even more so than that bunker me and Mason were in" a soft breeze blew by, cooling down the three of us as we finally _sat down_ outside a random book store. "But somehow, it's not as chaotic" our 'daughter' studied a couple as they walked by, her curiosity matching theirs as they gawked at both at the both of us. Likely assuming we were twin sisters. Oh, if they only knew.

"New York City is really one of the country's hotspots for criminal activity, whether it be regular criminals or supervillains"

"Like that red symbiote we fought"

I snorted whilst Ghost snickered through our link. My Other easily sensed my growing agitation at the thought of the sociopathic yahoo. "Yeah, _him_. Ugh, I hope SHIELD found someplace that can hold the slippery little bastard -_and_ be discreet about it"

"Why do you say that Mommy?"

"I'm sure you have already gathered that the main reason Agent Burns wanted to give you up was because he was certain keeping you would put you in danger. We have solid reason to believe there's a spy in our ranks, so if Fury or any of the other higher-ups are smart -which I know for damn sure they are- they'll use utmost caution when dealing with Carnage. Because if they're not careful, the same people who had plotted to abduct me will go after him…" I lowered my voice, more mindful of my volume as someone sat closeby. "And while I don't particularly like him very much, his capture could result in our 'friends' successfully gaining the knowledge they aimed to get on their previous attempt"

"Or maybe if the 'secret party' does get him and they aren't careful, he will get loose. And he will cause widespread panic" our bond-child deduced. We nodded, proud to hear that not only was she on the same page, but she could add solid input to back it up. She was literally born yesterday, and aside from her little questioning quest she had earlier, she was maturing relatively quick. We were both proud and startled at just how much she could potentially grow intellectually and emotionally over the course of the day…

The week…

The month…

The _year_…

As we pondered just what the future had in store for us and our daughter, we failed to notice that said individual was trying to get our attention. And upon seeing that waving her hand in front of our face wasn't working, she made due with rolling up a thing of newspaper and whacking us upside the head with it. "Yowch!"

"I'm sorry, I thought you two were going catatonic" the look-a-like hybrid apologized sheepishly.

_**I think your Space Cadet tendencies have officially rubbed off on me**_

_Oh shush you_

"We -_I'm_ sorry, just was thinking of the future is all" I murmured that last bit, ashamed that I wasn't quite in the here-and-now. If I -if we- were to guide the little one, we needed to be in the present. "Did you need something?"

"Actually, I do…" brown eyes identical to my own peered at us. "I need a name"

All that time, and we hadn't even given her a name. Between me and Ghost, we always mentally addressed her as 'little blue', 'little blue blob', 'our progeny', etc. during the time after her spawning. Ah yes, now we _both_ felt like terrible people. "_That _you do, we're very sorry" I hung my head, Ghost wriggling uncomfortably beneath the fabric of the actual clothes we were wearing. "Now that it's been brought up...we don't have anything at the moment"

"It's alright, I was thinking that perhaps I could name myself"

"What did you have in mind?"

Her eager grin spread wide. "Perhaps something to honor our family line"

"I take it you're referring to your 'father's' line?" made sense, she may have been half human, but it was clear her symbiote half was the one taking the wheel indubitably. The grin said it all.

"I may not phase through walls…"

_**AwwwwwWWWW! **_

_Be quiet_

"But...I _can_ do _this_" double-checking to be sure no one was looking in our direction, she levitated the newspaper an inch above the table before noiselessly setting it back down. Her caution being rewarded by no one even glancing in our direction. "And amongst your combined memories I couldn't have helped but have been drawn to one memory of a specific ghost movie"

And because she just loved to surprise us, her 'human' eyes suddenly flashed to their original blue, mine doing the same -from what I could see out of my peripheral vision from the reflective surface of the metal table we were seated at- as images flashed through our mind. Images of me and Ghost watching the original Poltergeist, complete with our daughter's voice in the background sharing her opinions and contentment with the decision. It only lasted for a few moments, but the impact was felt. Our progeny could communicate with us psychically, sharing thoughts and images and even emotions through this newfound bond. Sure, symbiotes could sense each other -related or not- but I didn't recall Venom ever having a psychic bond with Carnage. Or any of his spawn for that matter. This was certainly an interesting development.

"That was...neat, real neat" I said, for lack of more eloquent terms.

Our newly named 'daughter' Poltergeist nodded in agreement.

* * *

We spent perhaps close to an hour touring the rest of Bronx before moving on. Considering where we decided to rest earlier and where we ended up after that -which was close to a half hour taxi drive away from our destination- we had little time for exploring as we made a near beeline for the cafe where we were supposed to meet up with Felicia. Thankfully, even with traffic, we were able to get there at what appeared to be at the right time. As we approached the quaint little shop, we waved at whom we guessed was the white-haired girl -I mean, she waved first for crying out loud. Thing was, she now had blonde hair pulled up in a ponytail and her attire did not include any black. Instead she chose a less intimidating combination consisting of a tank-top and shorts. Her build also looked as if it had changed to, sporting a smaller and more lithe form. Upon closer inspection, we also saw that someone was seated behind her. _Huh, it appears she brought someone...sorry bud, _Ghost gave a disgruntled sigh in response to this, but kept quiet as we walked up to the two women.

"Claire, nice to see you again. And I see you brought your...sister?" Felicia tilted her head like a bemused cat.

"Actually, I'm her-"

We threw an arm around Poltergeist's shoulders, delivering a swift warning pinch to her arm. Whether she saw it or not, Felicia smiled when I answered:

"Yup, she's my twin!"

_**Smooth**_

_Yeah, I'm _so_ sure you could have done better_

"Gee, I'm getting a '_the Shining_' vibe just by looking at you two. Please, sit, you're making me nervous" even when saying that, we could tell the platinum blonde in disguise was being facetious. Her big smirk was a huge indication to that.

With a nod, we sat on one side of the table. Poltergeist being the closest to Felicia's acquaintance. "We couldn't help but notice that you also brought someone..." Polty said tactfully, holding out her hand to the strawberry blonde seated next to her, "What's your name friend?". Grey eyes stared amusingly at the hand, the owner of those eyes graciously shaking it with her own slender hand. I had to bite back a relieved sigh upon seeing that the woman was friendly and that Polty's social skills seemed to be improving.

"Tara Burns"

"Burns?" Poltergeist perked up with a smile. "Are you related to Mason Burns?"

Tara raised a brow. "He's my dad"

_**Oh…**_

_Shit…_

_**Son…**_

Although she looked as if she wanted to delve into that topic, our 'daughter' merely responded with a "I met him once or twice, he's a chill guy". And after that she remained quiet, instead looking interested in a pair of pigeons as they flew over a taxi and proceeded to shit on it. We all sat there, holding back our snickers as the driver cussed out the birds.

"So…" I drawled awkwardly. "Are _you_ two sisters?" I was pretty damn sure Felicia wasn't at all related to Mason, but I would have liked to have known what her relationship with Tara was exactly. To answer my question, Felicia chuckled and shook her head.

"No, though it sure seems that way doesn't it?" she reached over to ruffle Tara's hair in a sisterly fashion. Tara groaned, but made no attempt to cut the gesture short.

"Damn it, Hardy" Mason's daughter then continued to grumble obscenities too low for passerby to hear. Both me and my Other blushed upon hearing the extensive vocabulary.

Satisfied with how flustered Tara got, Felicia then went on to explain. "She's a good friend of mine, and also my partner"

_**So hot**_

_Shush!_

"Business partner?" I found myself blurting out, no thanks to Ghost's influence. Felicia nodded. "What do you guys do?"

Before she could answer me, there was a crash at the intersection not even fifty feet away. All of us on our feet in an instant, mouths agape as the back door of a huge armored vehicle (that may have been at fault for the collision) flew off and revealed a massive grey figure as he stepped out into the sunlight. We seldom had any interactions with supervillains before we fought Venom a short while back, but that did not mean that we didn't know who the man in the armor was. Countless news reports made sure of that.

"Rhino" me and Felicia said simultaneously, complete with matching scowls. Tara and Polty were silent, but they didn't look too pleased at the sight of the criminal either.

"Should we-" Tara cut herself off, looking conflicted about what she was going to say next. A look from Felicia vanquished her doubts. "We should get the hell outta here" as soon as she said that, the two blondes ran down the street, opposite of where Rhino was. As they ran, I saw Felicia pull out her phone. Could she have been calling for Spider-Man? Or some other help?

"But what about-?!" Poltergeist squeaked when I grabbed her hand and ran into the cafe. Everyone was too busy looking out the windows to see the chaos that was unfolding at the intersection to notice us run past them and straight into the women's restroom. Body on autopilot, I stripped out of my regular clothes and let Ghost form over my skin, taking on the shape of the clothes I just stripped out of. It wasn't my first time having to change during the day, crime never was picky when it came to timing. However, it was my first time doing so for a supervillain. With time of the essence, I wrapped the clothes and shoes into a bundle and placed them in a bathroom stall along with my purse and phone -and had Ghost use a tendril to lock it on the other side because I'm paranoid. Satisfied, I ran out the bathroom with Polty right on my heels. As soon as we left the building, we checked to see if anyone was paying any attention to us and to see if Rhino was still at the intersection. He was, and was creating absolute havoc. With a grunt, I ran into the alley and rounded the corner, hidden from the light of day. Ghost needed no word of encouragement as he formed over me, changing us into the White Rabbit that people knew but may have not loved so much.

Witness to our transformation, Polty squealed with excitement and took on her natural symbiote form. Her colors were the same as when she was temporarily with Mason but the black markings on her body differed in shape and location making her look as if she was wearing a black bikini and boots. Her large and expressive blue eyes glistened green at the edges and she also now had white 'hair' that also seemed to have light green highlights. **"Are we gonna kick some ass?! Please say yes!"** she was practically bouncing as we scooped her up and flew out of the alley and over to where Rhino was terrorizing hapless citizens.

Immediately after landing, Polty just about flew out of our grasp as she rushed toward Rhino. The massive armored man only had time to merely glance in our direction before Poltergeist delivered a flying kick right into his face. Taking only a few seconds to recover, Rhino glared down at our progeny. "Why you little-!" the large fellow made to lunge at her, but backpedaled quickly as we sent a small barrage of needle projectiles in his direction. And although the needles failed in hitting any flesh, Rhino still got agitated.

"I'm not afraid of you, you symbiotic _sluts_!" with a scowl, he got down low into a charging stance.

_Did he _really_ need to call us sl-whoa! _We flew upwards to avoid Rhino's charge.

_**Worry less about what he called us and focus more on what we're going to do to him for what he called us**_

I snorted. _Fair enough, _with our wings still pumping in an effort to keep us airborne, we turned and leered down at the aggressive supervillain. _**"Any good reason as to why you're causing so much trouble in **__broad daylight__**?"**_

"Maybe I just like the chaos" Rhino grinned behind the visor of his helmet as he got down low again.

"_**You won't be saying that once our back-up gets here, asshole" **_we hovered lower, encouraging him to charge us as we needles pricked up along the sides of our forearms. We were also mindful of Poltergeist, who was behind us, and the citizens that were behind her. _How's your reaction time? _We asked, wanting to test just how reliable our link was with our progeny. The blue symbiote hybrid sent a flurry of confidence and eagerness through. With a glance over our shoulder, we saw her blue-green tinted eyes glow faintly.

Seeing that we were 'distracted', Rhino charged at us. Ghost huffed at this, _**I'm almost offended that we don't even need to use our phasing on this yahoo**_

_We should still be cautious though, _I said through both our bond and with a murmur. Things seemed to be going too smoothly. And with what I knew vaguely about Felicia, provided she came to assist, the whole situation would be resolved in a matter of minutes. And then there was the variable of Tara. Just who was she? What was she capable of? Was she a part of some obscure Marvel universe?

However, such questions needed to wait, our attention needed elsewhere as Rhino zipped right below us again, careening toward Poltergeist instead. With a loud grunt, Polty sent two empty cars right into the man just as he was within a few feet of her. The force of it may have not been enough to send him flying, but it did send him skidding a healthy distance away from Polty and the scared citizens behind her. Despite gaining the upper hand with such an awesome tag-team effort, we (including Polty) knew that it was but a temporary reprieve. We needed to get the people that were either too injured or too scared to safety while Rhino recovered. And that wasn't very long.

"_**Poltergeist, use your telekinesis to move the injured! Find anyone that can help them, specifically paramedics, and contact the police!"**_

_The phone should still be in the bathroom stall, please hurry little one, _I sent through our link.

No sooner did the words and thoughts leave when then Poltergeist took action, the blue hybrid moving with great urgency as she transported _all_ the injured away from Rhino. The massive man in the armor already on his feet and watching her efforts with a big grin. "Wow, I didn't peg you symbiotes as the heroic types. I know the blue one wanted to pick a fight, but you…" Rhino sneered as he turned to focus on us. "You, _White Rabbit, _I thought the boss said you liked the shadows. Oh well, let's see how you do against the big leagues" a portion of his helmet above his forehead slid down, three metallic horns protruding out of it as it covered his visored face. He didn't get into his charging stance, instead he did something that made me sweat under Ghost's protective layers. Clusters of tiny missiles and a couple of machine guns popped out of his armor.

_**Not good**_

_Not good at all! _We looked over to see that some people had gained enough sense to run away. But others were still there either gawking or with their phones out. _Really?!_

"_**Are you people **__fucking idiots__**?!"**_ _sure_, there was probably _good reason_ as to why they were still there -such as still being too scared to move- and that my outburst in all its profane glory was unwarranted and I should try for a more pleasant approach…

Yeah,_ right_.

When we saw that they were still giving us sheep-eyed stares, we whipped out the teeth of my Other and roared at them. Yep, that proved 100% effective.

_**We may have traumatized them for life, especially the kids**_

_Ask me if I care! _With a growl, we increased the size of our wings and wrapped them around to shield us from two of the missiles as they collided with us. It would have been easier and less painful if we had phased through them sure, but if we had, the trajectory (whether it was homing or not) of the projectiles would have continued on and hit one or two of the apartments behind us. And since there were people _watching_ out their windows, it was the more noble thing to do much to our chagrin. One thing we hated more than rockets to the ol' symbiotic tissue was the thought of casualties.

Rhino laughed as we winced in pain from the heat of the explosions and from the embarrassment of landing on our rump. "What's the matter, can't take the heat?!" he aimed his missiles, ready to fire at any sign of retaliation that we showed. And oh yes, we were very much going to _retaliate_.

"_**We can tolerate heat fairly well…" **_we bluffed. _**"It's little bitches in fancy high-tech battle armor that we can't stand!" **_we multiplied the size and density of our own tissue, ready to take the brunt of whatever else Rhino was going to throw at us as the man roared angrily and with passion.

But with life and all it's funny quirks, nothing hit us. Astounded by the anti-climax, we peeked through our shields to see Rhino staring dumbfounded at his missiles as they clicked and clunked, but wouldn't budge. We could also hear the '_Error, Malfunction Detected_' coming from out of his suit. "Come on, piece of sh-!"

We watched in awe as a woman in a black catsuit with white fur clambered onto the back of him and planted a device near his head. With a grunt, our little white-haired ally gracefully leapt off of him as the device discharged and shut down his suit. And being the opportunistic symbiote that we were, we wasted no time in strutting toward him and ripping the front of his suit away. _**"Peek-a-Boo"**_ we jeered and grabbed him by his thick neck, pulling the large man out of his suit. Without another word, we carelessly deposited him on the ground. And by that I mean we tossed his sorry ass aside.

Thinning our shields so they functioned more like thick tendrils, we wrapped Rhino up. _**"Thank you for the assist-" **_we nearly choked on our own words as the woman vanished from sight.

_**Is invisibility a power of hers?**_

_No, no it's not. She's just...super stealthy, _we looked around to see plenty of potential places that she might have ducked into.

But alas, _Black Cat_ had disappeared into the shadows.

* * *

After talking with the police (and finding out that the vehicle that held Rhino was really remote controlled, so there was no driver to be held accountable) and double-checking that Rhino would not give them any trouble, we joined Poltergeist near an ambulance. She was still in symbiote form, petting a cat and speaking to some random kid. We let out a sigh of relief at seeing the tender exchange. That kid was calmer than most people would have been in front of a symbiote.

"Is that her?" the kid suddenly asked, pointing up at us. Without having to turn around to see whom he was speaking about, Polty chuckled.

"**Yup, it is…" **our hybrid daughter gazed at us from over her shoulder. **"Mommy, this is Miles"** she stood and grasped our shoulders. **"Miles, this is White Rabbit"**

"Nice to meet you ma'am" the kid smiled shyly and held out his hand.

We were about to shake it, but stopped once we heard a soft thud from on top of the ambulance. We looked up to see a pair of white lenses narrowed mirthfully at us.

"I came as fast as I could, I'm so glad to see you got this under control Whitey" Spider-Man front-flipped, landing expertly in front of our little group.

"_**We had help"**_ we corrected with a shrug. _**"We don't want to be rude, but just where have you been?"**_

Spidey hung his head. "I was busy with Vulture. The fight would have lasted longer if he hadn't retreated…" he gave a nervous chuckle. "As much as I wanted to capture him, I was actually relieved when he flew away. Because while he **is** a threat…" Spidey's face scrunched underneath his mask. "I don't consider him to be as bad as Rhino. Destruction wise"

"_**How did you catch word of what was happening in this intersection?"**_

"A friend told me"

With a knowing look, we shook our head and held out our arms toward Poltergeist. While sad that we needed to leave, she allowed us to pick her up as we gave an experimental flap of our wings and then took flight. As we looked for a suitable hiding area to change back, we couldn't help but catch a glimpse of a winged figure as they glared at us and then retreated. We easily deduced that it was Vulture. But, just how long has he watched us? Questions continued to flood our mind, even spilling over to Poltergeist and making her groan in irritation. As we finally found someplace that was a reasonable distance to the cafe bathroom for Poltergeist to shift into her human guise and for my Other to recede from my form (Polty being kind enough to give us our clothes, purse, and phone), we settled with one thought that stood out amongst the others.

Just what was the commotion in that intersection **really** about?

* * *

**No promises on faster updates, but I'll try :D So, love it, hate it, what did you guys think?**

**What did Black Cat do to Rhino to get close enough to use that device on him?**

**Where did Tara go?**

**Why were Rhino and Vulture causing trouble for?**

**Who did Polty befriend? (I mean sure yeah his name is shared, but 'future' wise XD)**

**Stay tuned! (p.s. I don't own 'the Shining' either)**


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